Time to Get Extreme 2
by Matthew M. Hollie
Summary: The sequel to the classic story picking up three years later.
1. Three years after

A/N: Please Read and Review, please.

Disclaimer: Power Rangers are property of Saban Brands, Inc. All WWE Programming, talent names, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves,trademarks, logos, and copyrights of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Rated T

Reefside, CA

"And that's pretty much what we've been doing the last few months," Dr. Tommy Oliver finished recounting things for Dr. Zack Taylor, the newest addition to the Reefside High School faculty. "And you know what happened from there."

The original Black Ranger nodded. "It's still somewhat hard to believe, you know," he said quietly. "I. ..I'm still having some trouble with the teaching part. But on the up and up, I'll do alright."

"I know," Tommy said. "It's hard to let handle things, but you have to sometime. You can't hold on to the past forever."

Zack nodded, understanding why he took up teaching, Zack had relocated to Reefside after the classic battle with Miratrix. Two weeks before that day, they'd mutually decided that their friendship would work best if they were teammates and co-leaders. It had seemed to work out, since Tommy had begun to become a mentor to the younger group, and Zack had recieved his Ph.D in history from Angel Grove University, three years after that battle.

"Hey guys, miss us?" a voice said.

It was Tori, Kira and and Adam right behind them.

"Oh guys, how did you get here?" Zack said.

"We thought we surprise you with a little visit to Angel Grove this month," Adam said.

"Yeah with the hot humid days of summer coming up, we all think you guys are need of a homecoming party," Kira said.

"You guys gonna come or what? We've got old friends waiting over there," Tori said. "I think you guys should reconnect with them."

"Yeah, it's been a while since we've been in that town," Zack said.

"Same here, but I wonder if Kim still lives there?" Tommy said.

"There's an old saying, 'You'll never know what will happen," Adam said.

"Then let's go," Kira said happily.

And off they went.

Same time...

An Irishman stumbled and fell. Tumbling end over end, he fell down the short albeit steep hill. He took only a second before glancing up behind him.

"Oh man, I think I just broke my arse," he said.

But the dark figure just glared at him.

He screamed bloody murder as soon as the figure caught him.

TBC.


	2. A New Kind of Evil and Reunion Plans

A/N: Please Read and Review, please.

Disclaimer: Power Rangers are property of Saban Brands, Inc. All WWE Programming, talent names, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves,trademarks, logos, and copyrights of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Rated T

"Get up Sheamus, you poor hypocrite, the boss wants to see us," Chris Jericho said to the Irishman named Sheamus.

"My word, that time already?" asks Sheamus.

"Aye, she's a far cry from Mr. McMahon, tis for sure," Drew McIntyre said as well.

The figure appeared in the light. That figure turned out to be Trakeena, a villianess with an appetite for destruction.

"Well, look who's here," she said. " Mr. Jericho has served me well."

"Trakeena, we have one more person joining in our quest in taking over Earth," McIntyre said.

"Perfect. But those older Rangers are the biggest headaches I have since returning," Trakeena said. "Now, it's payback time. Get ready for the next stage of attack!"

"Yes my lady," Chris said smugly.

**Angel Grove, CA**

Despite the years that had separated them, each of them felt a sense of relief as they waited for their friends' flight into the terminal at Angel Grove Airport. The first four to arrive were Kimberly, Jason, Ashley and T.J. They had an hour to kill before any of the others started to arrive, so they wandered from their gate to a small restaurant to grab lunch.

"Kimberly, would you sit still, please?" T.J. pleaded with her as she kept moving her feet or hands. Ashley and Jason's conversation died down as they watched her twisting her fingers together as she picked at her lunch, a sure sign that she was nervous.

"You're nervous about one of two things, this family reunion or seeing Tommy again," Jason spoke softly, instantly catching her attention.

"Both. This whole thing with Tommy..." she started, blinking back tears. "Jason, I never gave him a good reason, I lied to him about what happened. You saw what happened the last time I saw him."

Jason nodded. He could remember the scene all too well. When the others had gained their Turbo Powers, he and Kim had been turned against them by Divatox. And at the martial arts competition afterward, Tommy had been so wrapped up in Kat that Kim had excused herself from the room and never come back. He hadn't noticed she was gone until Tommy had asked where she was cause he wanted to talk to her. Shaking his head, Jason watched the tears slip down her cheeks. "I think if you really sit him down and explain what happened when you left for Florida, he'll understand. Tommy's always had a soft spot for you Kim."

"Jason, get real!" T.J. quipped, getting strange looks from the others. "Tommy's been in love with you since the moment he met you," T.J. spoke earnestly. "Even a blind man could see it. So you made a few mistakes. You were sixteen, you were scared, and after what happened in Florida, no one can hold it against you for breaking it off with him."

"Here comes Billy," Ashley interrupted when she pointed out the former Blue Ranger approaching. He was dressed down in a pair of blue jeans, a blue polo, and blue Nike's.

When he saw them, Billy waved and started jogging over. "Long time no see," he quipped as the group stood to greet him. T.J. gave him a hug, as did Jason, while both Kim and Ashley pecked kisses on his cheek.

"So, here I was thinking you'd gone off to Aquitar for good, and all of a sudden you're back," Jason pointed out as Billy started laughing.

"Jas, I missed home, missed my family, my friends," Billy spoke genuinely, his eyes shining with what might have been tears, as he sat down between Ashley and T.J. "Things didn't work out the way I had expected. I was just lucky enough the Rangers there could get me home in one piece."

As he and Jason continued on with news from the other rangers, Billy noticed the looks Ashley and T.J. kept giving Kimberly, his mind automatically registering why they were giving her those long looks - Tommy. "So does he know we're coming?"

"No. I talked to the Zack-Man, said he and Tommy were doing it as a surprise," Jason said as Billy nodded.

"It'll be some surprise alright," Billy murmured as Kimberly's head snapped up. "How you holding up?" he whispered as she gave him a shaky smile.

"About as well as I look at the moment," she whispered, then screeched when a pair of hands covered her eyes.

"Surprise!" the voice retorted, causing Kim to start laughing as she stood up and spun around. Instantly, her arms were thrown around Rocky's neck.

"ROCKY!" she gushed as she hugged him.

"Hey Beaut..." he stopped his greeting mid sentence, cursing himself when Kim's eyes filled again. "Darn it Kim, I'm sorry."

She pulled back and waved it off. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna break."

"No, but you look like you're gonna drown with all those tears in your eyes," a new voice started in concern. The entire group turned and found Andros, Trent, and Aisha standing behind Rocky.

"So, someone want to explain what the heck is going on?" Aisha quipped as she pushed Rocky aside so she could hug Kim.

Shaking their heads, T.J. and Ashley shrugged. Jason sighed. "You're about as informed as we are at this point."

"Tommy's not going to be very happy to see us unexpectedly," Trent started as Rocky nodded. "You know how much he just loves surprises." The slight sarcastic tone of her voice had the others wincing.

Billy's eyes kept switching between Kim and Ashley, wondering when exactly the cat-fight was gonna begin. Kim saw the look on his face and decided he should know. "Billy, Ashley knows the truth about what happened."

Kim's words silenced the group. It had been something on each of their minds when news of Kim's attendance had spread. "She's right, I do know," Ashley whispered as she moved forward and leaned down to hug her friend. "How you holding up?"

Kim's smile was the first genuine one Jason had seen on her face since they'd boarded the plane in Florida. "Better now that you guys are here."

**Few Minutes Later...**

Zack was startled when his cell phone rang on the ride to the hotel. Reaching over Tori, he grabbed his backpack, opened it and pulled his cell out. Shushing everyone, he answered. "The Zack-Attack here."

The others immediately started paying attention as he talked with whoever had called him. "Yes Jase, everything's fine. We've got a meeting to go to downtown later this afternoon and then we'll meet you guys at the Juice Bar tomorrow to plan this party." Kira and Tori smiled, appreciative that their team was worried about them. "No, that's fine. Yeah, you can call me here anytime. Right. See you tomorrow."

"So?" Tommy asked as Zack shut off his phone.

"We'll be there tomorrow, bright and early," Zack said. "Brought the Heavy Artillery?"

"Yep, including the blasters and Exosuit, to make sure it's not detected, it camouflaged as personal possessions," Tommy said.

"Yeah, but Tommy, we all feel that this reunion was going to happen sooner than later. We've haven't seen these guys in like forever."

"Yeah, I hope it's a good reunion, because I'm looking forward to it."

TBC...


	3. Test of Love and New Revelations

A/N: Please Read and Review, please.

Disclaimer: Power Rangers are property of Saban Brands, Inc. All WWE Programming, talent names, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves,trademarks, logos, and copyrights of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Rated T

**Angel Grove, CA**

It has been a long time for each of the Original Rangers for their encounter once again. At the Angel Grove Gym & Juice Bar, Jason and the gang welcomed Zack, Tommy, Kira, Tori, and Adam with warm hugs and a series of high- fives.

"It's good to see you again, guys," Jason said as he stood behind the counter, with Trent next to him.

"It's always good to see you again, Jase," Zack said.

"Yeah, me too, Bro," Tommy said, grinning from ear to ear.

"So what's Trent doing with you, Jason?" Kira asked.

"Well, since Ernie had relocated to Miami so I brought the place with Trent as my first employee," Jason explained. "With bills and Art School tuition up to the roof, he needed a place to work to cover those. So I thought, 'Why not have him work here?'"

As soon as their conversation was finished, Kimberly storms in, with an angry look on her face.

"Hey Kim, how you doing?" He asked politely.

"ZACK TAYLOR, WHAT THE HELL?"

Ah, if he knew anyone's enraged voice, he knew Kim's and it sounded distinctly like her. "Kim, how are you?"

"You're not the one who's had me terrified for a week and wondering how they got their powers back and with news reports wondering if they'd figure out our identities because of-"

"Me, Tommy and Adam had no choice. We had Miratrix to ourselves for a while. But that was three years ago."

Kim calmed down, it's apparent in her voice. "Oh,"

"See what I mean?" Tommy said.

"It seems like Sentinel Knight escaped Thrax, you know, Rita and Zedd son, and restored our powers. I first got the power, then Zack," Adam said.

"Tommy & I have this theory. Zordon keyed the original Power Coins to our body signatures since we first used them. I sure hope the Sentinel Knight restored your powers as well," Zack said.

"Well, in any case, I'm sure that he had a reason for doing it this way. You both like being Rangers again?" Kimberly asked.

"Man, there's nothing like it at all! I keep saying to myself, 'I never should have went to the Peace Conference. Here, you know you're really accomplishing something." Zack told her.

"I feel the same way about teaching. It was a little rough, personality wise." Tommy had a thought. "Wanna take a look at the new blasters me and Zack created?"

Kim thought for a second. "Why not?"

**Angel Grove Park**

Andros had reached the park, when T.J. had finally caught up with him.

"Stop Andros." Andros came to a stop, and T.J. knew that if he didn't reach Andros' side quickly, Andros would continue walking away.

TJ quickened his pace and moved to stand in front of him. Andros only stared past him, at some point beyond T.J.'s shoulder. T.J. could see a human figure before them.

"Who are you?" Andros asked.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out," the figure said.

When the battle began, the figure took them down with one strike.

"Now you parasites, bow down to Trakeena, the new queen of the universe," the figure said.

"This isn't good, we got to alert the others," T.J. said.

"Your struggles are useless. We have defeated you. Accept it with honor. It's time to die Red Ranger, and the others will soon follow."

"Let's get out of here!" Andros said, retreating.

**Chamber of Darkness**

Chris Jericho, one of the main men to join the darkness army, swaggered onto the deck of the Chamber of Darkness. Trakeena stood alone in the room, gazing out at Earth.

Quickly, he grabbed her up in his arms, planting a passionate kiss on her lips. Suddenly, she pulled away from him. Before he knew what was happening, her hand came up, and she slapped him across the face with all the force she had. She then moved away from him, anger filling her eyes.

"You like it ruff? I can do ruff." He said, eyes glaring malevolently, lips curved in a wicked smile, as he massaged the stinging spot.

Furious, she turned on him and moved to within an arms length of him.

"You let them escape! I wanted you to destroy them all, and you let them slip through your fingers!"

Laughing, Jericho walked past her, landing a quick swat to her posterior, to sit casually and unconcerned in her seat.

"You forget. I put the other me out of commission for a while. Who knows, he may even be dead. And...you also forget...I know them better than they know themselves. I have all of their strengths, and none of their weakness'." Jericho said as he slowly began to spin himself around in her seat.

What had she created?

"And you thought you were evil. You have no idea what you have created. You love him, I love him, don't let this happen. I need my love back." The voice in her head pleaded.

Trakeena watched Jericho with anger filled eyes. He felt no remorse, no guilt, and there didn't seem to be the voice in his head, as there was in hers.

"Shut up. He's the perfect weapon..." An evil smile began to turn up her anger twisted lips. "Perfect."

Jericho stopped spinning, stood, walked to her side. Looking deep into her eyes, "They're heading to Earth. And that's one of their weakness'. We start there." There was a sparkle in his eyes, as he kissed her slowly, then calmly left the deck.

Trakeena stood silently for a moment, before she too, left the deck.

Silence filled the room, the only sound was the door sliding closed behind her. From the shadows stepped and even darker form.

Edge. Chris Jericho's sometimes friend and enemy.

**Angel Grove, CA, Not too long ago...**

"Eddie, what is going on?" Zack said on his cell phone. It was Eddie Worsley, WWE's Assistant to the traveling secretary, was on the other end. He and Zack were close in high school.

"Of all the weird things happening this has got to be the weirdest," Eddie said. "It seems that Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Edge, Jack Swagger and Chris Jericho have all miss their appearances and house shows for the last two weeks, so I wondered what you think."

"I don't know, but I'll call back to find..." Zack didn't finish what he was saying but he was stopped by Andros and T.J.

"Guys, big trouble, Trakeena's back," Andros said, huffing and puffing.

"Does that answer your question?" Zack said to Eddie.

"Well, I..."

"When's the next batch of shows in the west coast?"

"This week, if you can round up our guys for help, you're more than welcome. In fact, Mr. McMahon approved of it, just in case this happens."

"We'll handle it," Zack said as he hung up.

"That was Eddie, right?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, guess we gotta go to work," Zack said.

TBC...


	4. Insurrection and Resurrection?

A/N: Please Read and Review, please.

Disclaimer: Power Rangers are property of Saban Brands, Inc. All WWE Programming, talent names, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves,trademarks, logos, and copyrights of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Rated T

"So Trakeena is back? For How long?" Kimberly asked Zack.

"I don't know, as far as I'm concerned she was destroyed by the Lightspeed Rescue Rangers and the Lost Galaxy Rangers a few years back. But resurrected for revenge? and on us? It's a possibility," Zack said.

Tommy and Kira nodded. Tommy frowned a few moments later as Kira and Jason kept trying to make Strawberry-Banana Shakes together. "Guys, do yo obviously think that Trakeena is out using wrestlers for her dirty work? It happened with Miratrix before, when she captured John Cena."

"She captured him? Did she clone him by any chance?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, and he was a bad one too. We destroyed the carbon copy and retrieved the real deal while I took down Miratrix. It's as simple as mathematics."

Both Kira and Jason suddenly went quiet. Tommy had a point. "You think something else is going on?" Jason asked.

"I'd say Dr. O's got a bad feeling about it," Kira started, watching Tommy's face. "And now so do I."

"Same here, but I feel this is the ultimate reason why she should reunite," Zack said. "But first, let's pay a visit with Dr. Miller."

"Dr. Miller? As in 'Dr. Leonard Miller'? He's a creepy looking fella," Tommy said.

"No choice in the matter. We have to find out for ourselves before we recruit even more help," Zack said.

"I don't know about you, but I'm staying put, and try to piece this together," Tommy said. "Good luck anyway."

"Thanks a lot, T.O., I see what Miller can dig up," Zack said.

**Miller Labs, Angel Grove, CA**

"It must be something in the water in Angel Grove, that would produce such a group."

The words washed over the group of nine as they entered the small ballroom of their hotel an hour later. A man, approximately in his mid forties, with slightly graying hair and a sharp gray business suit stood before them, surrounded by body guards and a woman they could only guess was his assistant.

"You must be Dr. Miller," Billy started as the man nodded.

"Indeed I am, Dr. Cranston. Welcome to Miller Labs," Miller spoke as the group started to tense.

Kim, Aisha, Kira, Tori, and Ashley stepped closer to one another as the guys unconsciously grouped around them. "I don't like this," Kim whispered as the other four girls nodded in unison.

"I assure you, Ms. Hart, you have nothing to worry about," he spoke again, watching as Kimberly's eyebrow raised in question. "You, most of all, have nothing to worry about."

Instinctively, Zack and Jason moved to almost flank Kim. "Jason," Zack spoke, watching as Jason nodded when he caught the tone of Rocky's voice.

"Dr. Miller, why did you invite us here?" Jason questioned. Miller simply stared at them. He could see that even after all these years, they still looked to the ex-Red Ranger for leadership. He smiled slightly. They may have been powerful as Rangers, but they obviously weren't very smart.

"For the same reason the new doctor beckoned you here," Miller spoke, watching as the group tensed even more. "It suddenly came to me that Drs. Taylor and Oliver would probably reunite their old teammates once again."

Aisha gulped when Tori whispered, "He knows." The others were silent and trying not to show their emotions. And they succeeded, all except Kimberly. Instantly her anger ignited when she realized exactly what Miller was insinuating.

"Leave Tommy out of this," Kimberly growled, surprising her friends while only making Miller's smile grow.

"Take it easy, Kim, he's no traitor, I just checked," Zack said, calming his friend down.

"He's right. Retract your claws, my beautiful firebird," Miller spoke elegantly, watching as several pairs of eyes narrowed at him. "Or should I call you a crane? Your white tiger is perfectly safe. However, whether or not he stays that way depends on you."

Miller laughed internally when he saw Kim's face pale. Oh yes, he could use the feelings he saw raging across her face to his advantage. Despite what he knew had happened between Tommy and this beautiful young woman, she still held deep feelings for Tommy, ones she couldn't hide at the moment. "You haven't begun to see my claws yet," Kim's voice came out in a deadly whisper, one that had Adam, Zack, and all four of the other girls looking at her in shock.

"Look," Jason started before he was cut off.

"No, Mr. Scott, you look. I am in control here. Now, I'd appreciate all of you meeting me for dinner tomorrow night, seven o'clock, at my home," Miller started as the group gave him the 'you have to be kidding' look. "You may bring Dr. Oliver and his other friends, as I know you'll be meeting with them tomorrow. Alexi will take you where you need to go, you're dismissed."

'Dismissed!' the group thought at once, watching the man before them as he turned to say something to his assistant. "And if we refuse?" Zack asked.

"You won't," Mercer spoke confidently. "You care far too much for Dr. Oliver, to anger me."

"We'll be there," Zack growled. "But you better be on your best behavior."

**Later...**

"Kim?" Aisha asked an hour later as the group walked through the park, where they were supposed to be meeting up with Tommy. Jason had made a phone call to T.J. shortly after they left Miller Labs to bump it up to later in the afternoon instead of the next day. Kim had stayed at the back of the group, her attention and focus on the meeting from earlier. "Kimberly?" Zack's voice pulled Kim from her thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright?" Zack's voice came through as concern laced his voice. He could see the heaviness that weighed on Kimberly after the meeting with Miller.

Shaking her head, Kim stopped, as did Zack, and let the others get a bit further away. "No. We shouldn't have come here, I shouldn't have come here," Kim started as Zack watched her crumble. "I'm putting him in more danger than he already is."

"Kimberly," Zack started, his gaze going from Kim, to the others, and back. "Tommy was a Ranger, three years he was a ranger. He's always been in danger, but he knows how to take care of himself. He'd be the first person to point that out. I should know, we teamed up again three years ago, and we were always in danger. We didn't quit, no matter the circumstances."

"Zack, I hurt him so bad all those years ago," Kim sobbed softly as Zack's hands reached out and grabbed hers. "I couldn't stand knowing that my presence here is going to hurt him again."

"Kimberly, if anything, your presence is going to harden his resolve to fight Miller, and right now the rebirth of Trakeena." Before Kim could say anything, the others were shouting out in alarm. Kim and Kat blinked in surprise as they were suddenly surrounded by Sting Wingers, Trakeena's henchmen.

"WHOA!" Kim screeched as one slashed at her and Zack, who jumped back to avoid the hit.

"Kimberly!"

"Zack!"

The two Rangers hit the ground, hard, and looked at one another before nodding. They knew exactly what they had to do.

**A few minutes later...**

Tori shrugged and Ashley sighed. Before either of them, or Kira, could say anything, they heard the noise of what sounded like a fight coming from the other side of the hill behind them. "You don't think that's what I think it is, do you?" Tori asked as she, Kira and Ashley jumped off the swings.

"I'd bet a hundred bucks they're getting attacked," Kira whispered as they nodded to one another and took off. As the trio crested the hill they saw something they had only seen once before, with Dr. Oliver - civilians fighting Tyrano-drones with next to no problems.

"I'll be damned," Tori chuckled in awe as she watched Zack and the others taking out the Sting Wingers.

Ashley simply laughed while Kira shook her head. "Well, they aren't exactly normal civilians." Both Kira and Tori shot Ashley a look and then the three of them ran down the hill to start engaging the Sting Wingers.

Meanwhile, the others found that they were making some headway with their attackers, but they also discovered they were seriously out of practice. "Jason!" Rocky called out, jumping to Jason's rescue as a Sting Winger tried to sneak up on him.

"Thanks Rocko!" Jason grunted as he round house kicked the three he was fighting.

"They're here!" Aisha gasped as she and Adam double teamed the Sting Wingers in front of them. The others each momentarily looked up to see the three other Rangers coming to help.

Tori leapt into action, blasting the Wingers that had backed Kimberly and Zack together while Kira did a flying kick into the one that Billy had been having trouble with and Ashley started assaulting one of the Wingers that was gunning for Aisha and Adam.

"Nice of you to join us!" Adam quipped as he hip tossed the thing in front of him.

"Well, couldn't let you have all the fun, could we?" Kira quipped back before she was thrown into Zack. "Sorry, Zack."

"No problem, Kira," Zack smiled at her. Kira watched him in surprise when he suddenly leapt away from her toward Jason. She watched, even while helping Billy and Adam, as Zack and Kim approached Jason, Rocky, and Aisha. She and Adam blinked in surprise when they saw the others surrounding Jason, Zack and Kim.

"It's been a long time since they did that," Billy chuckled breathily as he sent out punch after punch. "Watch." The first time this had been done had been shortly after the original rangers first received their powers from Zordon.

Kira and Adam did as told. Zack quickly climbed onto Jason's shoulders, taking a position almost like you'd see someone do if they were playing water volleyball. They watched then as Kimberly wrapped her arms around Zack's outstretched legs and blinked rapidly as Jason began to spin them around, Kim's legs kicking out and connecting with the group of Wingers.

"Neat trick," Kira cracked as Adam nodded.

Before long, the group was standing there in shock as the group of Wingers disappeared. Zack and Kim hopped down and sank to the ground next to Jason. "They've never done that before," Ashley spoke as everyone grouped around the three sitting on the grass.

"There's a first time for every thing," Zack said. "Thank goodness for our blasters, we handled them with ease. ANyway, thanks guys."

"Kira," Kimberly started, catching the Yellow Ranger's attention. "Who's Leonard Miller?"

Kira blinked. She'd only heard that name a few times, and usually it was Dr. T (As Zack was sometimes called since he received his doctorate) cursing the name. "Dr. O said that he was the one Dr. T and Dr. O was working with a few years ago when the Miratrix thing happened."

Total silence reigned over the group as Kira's answer to Kim's question rocked them. "Oh God, Tommy," Kim whispered softly. Kira's eyes narrowed briefly at the way Kim had said Dr. O's first name.

"Why?"

"Miller wanted us for dinner, besides, he's a nice guy," Zack said. "But right now, I've got a bad feeling about this."

**Moments later...**

"You guys did really well," Jason commended the three teenagers as the group sat around on the playground equipment. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end as he watched his friends, and suddenly knew without a doubt what was about to happen. "We've got company."

Turning to look at Jason, the group pondered what he meant. "Tommy." Kim spoke his name so utterly clear that the entire group whirled around when they saw him standing about three feet from the edge of the sandbox.

Through all his years as a ranger, he had managed to keep his anger under the strictest of control. In fact, he could count on one hand the times he'd really been pissed off enough to do some damage, or had felt betrayed the way he did now. There was his CURRENT team sitting with his EX-team. All he could think about was being really upset that the others had come here. "What in the hell is going on?" He scanned the group, noting that most of them were dressed down. The small ripple of shock that coursed through him when he saw the three new rangers in their colors sitting with his friends, all of whom had abandoned their colors for black, white, or khaki, quieted him. For as long as they'd been rangers, they had all worn their colors, it was interesting to see them in anything but.

His brain quickly took role of who was there. His eyes locked on Tori, Adam, Kira and Zack, sending them a look of disapproval before he looked to the others. Zack on the other hand was angry at him, for not showing up in time when the Sting Wingers attacked them. After seeing all but two of his friends, his eyes landed on the person who'd spoken his name. Before he could even begin to reign in the emotions, he felt his heart simply crack apart at the seams.

"Kim." Several of the elder rangers' eyes widened. Kimberly's name had come from Tommy's lips sounding almost like a prayer, a love laced prayer.

"Uh, surprise," Kira muttered as Tommy's eyes tore away from Kimberly's face and focused on his team.

"SURPRISE?" The three teens winced at the sound of his voice. He'd gone from teammate and mentor to teacher in a split second.

"Not completely our fault though," Tori started, and had Zack finishing.

"We all got invited to go meet Dr. Miller." If Tommy had been slightly shocked to see his friends, and knew it was because of the new united team, he could handle that, but the shock of knowing Miller had contacted them was almost too much to his system.

It was Kimberly, surprisingly enough, who approached the black and khaki clad Tommy. Her eyes sought his as she stood directly in front of him, urging him to listen to her. "Tommy, he knows."

"Knows what, Kim?" Tommy asked impatiently. Just staring at her was hurting him.

"About us." If Tommy hadn't known better he'd think she was referring to the way they, the two of them, had been. "He knows about THAT too." Now he was floored. Miller knew about the Rangers, the old Rangers, and bets were he knew about the new ones too.

"Tommy," Jason started, stepping toward his best friend for the first time since he'd arrived. "He's gunning to pay you back for whatever happened, and us being here is part of how he's going to do it."

"Then leave."

Kim's eyes clenched shut so tightly that Tommy wondered if she was pissed or scared. When they opened again, he watched those doe like bottomless brown eyes he thought he knew so well change colors, which knocked him for a loop. "He's not going to let us leave until he gets what he wants, Tommy, and what he wants is for you to suffer. We have to talk," she finished in a whisper, watching the awareness seep into his eyes.

"I think you said all you had to say a few years ago, Kim." Purposely, he stepped around her to go and see the others. Kimberly continued to stare at the sky and clench her hands into fists to regain control.

"I lied to you, in more ways then one," she spoke, whirling around to face him and the others. God how she wanted to tell him this in private, not in front of their friends or his charges. The look in Tommy's eyes was enough to have her wanting to throw up on the spot. That absolute hatred in his eyes caused her heart to shatter. Not like you weren't expecting it, Kim, she thought to herself.

"I don't want to hear it Kim." He turned to say something to Zack, and found that his other teammate was glaring at him. "WHAT?" he defensively asked as Zack stood up from his seat on the edge of the jungle gym's stairs.

"Don't shut her out," Zack said as he stepped forward and turned pleading brown eyes on him. "She's got a lot to tell you."

Tommy stared at Zack like he'd grown a second head. "You've already talked with her."

Zack nodded. "She's my friend, and that was a long time ago. What have you've been drinking the last few years, gin, maybe?"

"This has nothing to do with you," Tommy said as he tried to push Zack away.

"I'm making it my business," Zack snarled. "Kim's like a little sister to me, and you really need to go back to the Pepsi-Cola, 'cause that gin ain't for you."

"What are you gonna do, Zack, you gonna hit me?"

"No, I was taught better than that, now you're misgiving right now. You're letting Trakeena drive you insane."

In one swift movement, a small ball of light shot out of the stranger's hand, sending each of them back several feet.

Angrily, and a bit frightened, Zack looked up at the man who swaggered toward her. "Who are you and what do you want?" He, by no means, was someone trying to mug them, they knew that for sure. Muggers didn't fire balls of light from their hands. And their past experiences as a Power Ranger, told them they wasn't dealing with just any alien.

"The name's Swagger, and...all I want is you." Swagger said, smiling, as he pointed at them.

Each of them slowly rose to their feet. Then in a blinding furry, Tommy lept toward Swagger, striking at his face, and leaving three bloody trails across his cheek. Before she knew she had even inflicted damage, she was staring into the cold depths of his eyes, as his hands tightened around her neck.

As each Ranger fought bravely, Swagger took each one down, with the exception of Zack and Tommy, who had their blasters at the ready.

"Sorry I got mad at you, Zack-Man," Tommy said.

"Apology accepted, let's take him down," Zack said.

"You Rangers have stopped me at every turn, but I won't give up!"

"We know, and we're not giving up either." Said Tommy, aiming his blaster at him.

Both blasted but Swagger dissappeared.

**Chamber of Darkness**

Trakeena sat in her seat on the deck of the Darkness, arms crossed, and her mind occupied. "You hate that you've created someone even more evil than yourself."

"He's the perfect weapon. No remorse or guilt."

"And you hate it, because you do."

"Only because I can't get rid of you."

"You can, by letting me go, and letting Jericho go as well."

"I let you go, and I won't exist."

"I knew you liked me, but I didn't think you'd cease to exist if I wasn't around." Trakeena hadn't heard Jericho enter the room, but his remark only fueled her anger that much more.

"If you fail again, I'll destroy you myself!"

"My Princess. Lord Angyr wishes to meet...with the both of you."

"Thank you Edge."

"I am at your Command, Lord Angyr." Trakeena said, as she stood before the giant form of the titanium creature called Lord Angyr.

"I have been watching you Trakeena. I am disappointed in how you have handled the Rangers. They cannot be allowed to succeed."

"I am doing all I can."

"It's not enough. I want Jericho and Swagger to be in charge of capturing the Rangers. You will help him as he needs. Don't fail me." The image of Lord Angyr faded.

"Man...what a hot head."

**Billy's Lab, Angel Grove, CA**

"Here's your fun facts about Trakeena, boys and girls," Zack said as he looked at the computer screen. "Trakeena is the insectile daughter of Scorpius, the evil princess of his alien army. Trakeena was born with both mortal beauty and insect features as well."

"No wonder she couldn't get a man," Jason wisecracked. The others frowned.

"However, Trakeena was incredibly vain and proud," Zack continued. "On one occasion, she had the monster Crumummy steal the beauty from all the female inhabitants of Terra Venture, because she hated the thought that they might be more beautiful than her. This plan was foiled, however, and the beauty was restored to the inhabitants of the station. She also liked to accompany her father's generals on their missions, though her father disapproved of it. One such case, Treacheron claimed that Trakeena had followed him to battle, whereas in truth, he had allowed it. This upset Trakeena, and in retaliation she convinced her father Scorpius that Treacheron was a traitor, for which he was locked up. This feud continued, and Treacheron tricked Trakeena into searching for a silver goblet, just so that he could ambush her once he was free from his cell. She was saved only thanks to the intervention of the Galaxy Power Rangers.

"Eventually, Trakeena learned that her father Scorpius wished for her to enter the cocoon, to become an insect with great powers, like him. She refused, mainly not wanting to lose her mortal beauty the transformation would cause, and fled to the planet Onyx when he tried to force her, where she met Villamax. Villamax offered to train her to be a great warrior, and taught her swordplay and martial arts. She returned to the Scorpion Stinger after hearing of Scorpius' defeat at the hands of the Rangers. While Scorpius was dying, Trakeena was given his throne and all of his powers. Deviot told her that Scorpius was destroyed by the Red Galaxy Ranger. Though she captured the Red Galaxy Ranger, he escaped.

"Though Trakeena had put her father's cocoon into storage, Deviot still wanted to enter it to gain power. He dragged her into the cocoon, where they merged into a single being. Deviot's power and ruthlessness had been incorporated into her personality, driving her insane. She had the Scorpion Stinger unleash a vicious attack on Terra Venture, destroying their last engine and causing it to crash on a moon nearby Mirinoi. While the colony was forced to evacuate the damaged ship, she launched a full-scale assault, arming all her Sting Wingers with bombs, so as to destroy the colony. Her general Villamax believed that this tactic of mass suicide bombing was foolish as Trakeena was destroying her own army. Using this tactic, Trakeena succeeded in destroying the Stratoforce and Centaurus Megazords, though in the process lost her whole army. After the colony escaped and fled to Mirinoi, she pursued them in the Scorpion Stinger, planning to blast the escape ships. When Villamax refused to obey this order, she destroyed him. When she attempted to attack again, the Power Rangers intervened in the Astro-Megaship. In an attempt to stop her, the Rangers self-destructed the Astro-Megaship, causing the Scorpion Stinger to crash back on the moon. However, Trakeena survived and as a last resort, entered the cocoon again. She emerged, mutated into a green, humanoid insect, just as her father had intended. She then powered up Terra Venture's remains to destroy the colony on Mirinoi. Her full plan was to crash the damaged Terra Venture into Mirinoi, obliterating the colony and the planet as well as destroying the Power Rangers in the crash. She engaged the Rangers in battle, and was seemingly destroyed by the Red Galaxy Ranger's Battlizer when he pulled her in close and shot her pointblank. The crash of Terra Venture was diverted from the colony by the timely intervention of the Galaxy Megazord, under control of the Galactabeasts only, in this instance."

"Nice history lesson, Zack but can we get moving? We all want to head out to Miller's place to grab some grub," Rocky said.

"Not time yet, so hold your horse there, Rocko," Zack said. "However, it was later revealed that she had survived and managed to return to her human form, though was now horribly disfigured. She then made her way to Earth, planning to obtain her revenge on the Rangers by destroying their home world. She acquired the allegiance of the Demon Triskull and his army of ghouls, collecting energy to return to her insectoid form. To do that, she captured humans to drain their life force. Leo teamed up with the Lightspeed Rescue Power Rangers in an attempt to stop her. However, Olympius, tainted the energy with a poison dagger, causing Trakeena to mutate into a gigantic monster. Despite the help of the Galactabeasts, the Galaxy and Lightspeed Rangers were unable to stop her until the Omega Megazord became infused with the Lights of Orion. Trakeena was then permanently destroyed. For her to be reborn and with her mortal beauty restored is way beyond me. Something's up."

"Could be her clone, or possibly there can be a chance she must have gotten to the Lost Galaxy," Adam said.

"No matter what, we gotta stick together," Zack said. "Or else we'll fall right in Trakeena's trap. We gotta take her out."

TBC...


	5. Capture and Retrieval

A/N: Please Read and Review, please.

Disclaimer: Power Rangers are property of Saban Brands, Inc. All WWE Programming, talent names, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves,trademarks, logos, and copyrights of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Rated T

**Taylor Household, Angel Grove, CA**

"One of these days, we all know the Trakeena crisis is really getting high." Adam said. "You think Miller is on the take?"

"I have know idea," Zack said. "But know this-We will not rest until we stop Trakeena and her army. To ensure this, I've notified the Silver Guardians, Eric Myers and Wesley Collins, they'll be here in a matter of days. And they're bring Jen over to help."

"Jen?" Tommy thought. "I thought she's back in her time frame."

"2 years ago, I read up on the Time Force Rangers latest adventure when the battled a bunch of criminals in her time. As a reward she stays in our time frame forever, making Wes happy. I wouldn't be more happier."

"Where's Kim? The last I heard her crying over your little scene," Jason said.

"Oh no, Trakeena must have gotten to her," Zack said. "It's all our faults, Tommy. We gotta do something."

"Right Zack, lets go," Tommy said.

**Chamber of Darkness**

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in." The voice was threatening. Kimberly instantly recognized the tone from her years as the pink ranger; this was not going to be pretty.

She slid to a stop in front of more of those things the group had gone up against earlier and standing in front of them was Trakeena. "So, Tommy's heart returns," Trakeena said, as Kim referred to her mentally, spat as Kim took several steps backward.

"What do you want with me?"

"I want you dead, but that's neither here nor there. My master has plans for you," Trakeena growled as she watched the others running toward them from over the hill behind Kimberly. "Sting Wingers, keep those Rangers busy!" she screeched as she leapt forward, attempting to clamp a hand around Kimberly's arm.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Kim screamed, dodging the offending hand.

Meanwhile, Tommy and Zack ran as fast as their legs would carry them. When her scream ripped through the air and slammed into him, Tommy's heart lurched up into his throat. He'd never heard her sound like that, not even with all the battles she'd faced when she'd been a Ranger. "KIM!" he yelled out as he attempted to make his way through the Sting Wingers to where Trakeena had finally managed to get a hold on Kim's arm. Zack also blasted the Sting Wingers with his Masto-Blaster to get through. "Just go, I'll catch up," Zack said, trying to blast his way.

She heard his anguished voice and twisted to see where he was. When she caught sight of him trying to fight his way to her, her mind superimposed a memory of a similar event over it, one where she'd been in pink and he'd been wearing white, and she felt her hope soar a little. If this turned out as good as the memory did, she'd be fine. "TOMMY!" she screamed as she tried to wrench free but couldn't.

The decision to morph was taken completely out of his hands as his heart wouldn't allow him to do any less to get to her. He felt the rush of the power as it dropped over him like a shroud. He could hear the others morph but he blocked it out, his only thought was to get to her.

She was struggling against Trakeena's hold, and he could see the streaks of pain filled tears rush down her cheeks. Deciding to leave the Sting Wingers to the others, he did a super leap over them and landed just behind Trakeena, who shrieked in surprise and let Kim go.

As she fell to the ground, Kim looked up at the now transformed White Ranger in awe and shock. That was the one thing the new team had neglected to tell her and the others - Tommy was no longer just the mentor and teacher - he was a ranger. Green, White, Red, Black and now back to White, Kim thought with a jolt. No wonder he'd been wearing the black shirt and tan khakis. "You know, you shouldn't pick on innocent people like that, kinda pisses us Rangers off," the Black Ranger muttered to Trakeena who smirked at him. Kim blinked in surprise at the cocky sound of his voice. 'Familiar tone, ain't it?' she asked herself as she backpedaled on the grass.

"Not so fast Trakeena, we got you surrounded," Zack said, holding his blaster as the Black Ranger.

"And here I thought she was just another memory of old to you, White Ranger," Trakeena spat as the experienced Ranger took a fighting stance in front of her. Zack hed his blaster at her as well.

"Touch her again, and you won't live to regret it, I promise that." The venom in his voice had Kim shivering. She'd had never, in all the years of knowing Tommy Oliver, EVER heard that tone come from him. He was beyond mad; he was PISSED. 'Do I want to know why?' she thought as she watched the pair in front of her.

Trakeena was about to say something when she suddenly got a funny look on her face. Without another word, she and the Sting Wingers disappeared through a portal, leaving nine very shocked friends staring at the White Ranger. Shaking his head, the White Ranger signaled for the others to unmorph. Crouching down, he looked at Kimberly in worry, visually scanning her for more injuries other than her arm. "You ok?" he questioned softly as he scooted closer to her. Kim looked up at him, letting the tears start to well in her eyes. He looked so vulnerable, so concerned about her that she momentarily forgot what had happened on the other side of the hill, until her brain started working again and she remembered the way he'd looked at her before.

"Just peachy. You know me," she waved him off when he reached out to help, and struggled to stand on her own. "I'm used to getting jerked around by the bad guys. I seem to be an especially nice target most of the time." Tommy frowned as he watched her dust herself off. She hadn't been fine when she'd screamed for him, he'd heard the terror in her voice. It had shocked him back a better part of a decade to when she'd last screamed for his help like that. 'When she lost her power coin' he thought absently as they made their way over to the others.

"I'm telling you one thing," Aisha spoke suddenly, breaking the silence. "I am not staying in that hotel, especially if Miller knows we're there."

The others nodded. "What are we gonna do then?" Jason asked looking from Aisha to the others. "We can't get rooms on such short notice."

"My old home is where we all stay, I got room since my mom and pop moved to Miami," Zack said suddenly, watching as his teammates nodded. "We all have homes we left when we ended our tenures as Rangers."

"Yeah, it's been a long time since we've been there," Tommy said.

"Hey, what about that stupid dinner tomorrow?" Adam asked suddenly. "Miller pretty much implied he'd do some wicked things to us if we didn't all attend."

"Oh, we aren't going to miss that for the world," Jason said suddenly, catching everyone's attention with his optimistic sounding voice. "I've got a plan, but I need to talk it over with Tommy and Zack tonight." That said, the group went to the homes, before they broke off and each went with Zack, whom let his house open for all.

**Silver Guardians Headquarters: Silver Hills, California**

Jericho entered the Silver Hills Headquarters. He was surprised at the size of it. Policemen, and women, were coming in and out of the building. Jeeps were parked at the side, awaiting their drivers to come on duty.

His pace slowed as he passed through the glass doors. Slowly he scanned the area, looking for the one person he'd come to see. Not recognizing any of them, he made his way to the front desk.

A young woman, dressed in a dark blue uniform, looked up from her paper work.

"Can I help you?"

"Ah, yeah. I'm looking for Commander Collins. Is he on duty today?"

"He sure is, let me page him for you." She turned to a microphone at her left, and pushing a button, broadcast her voice throughout the station. "Will Commander Wesley Collins please report to the front desk? Commander Wesley Collins."

"Thank you." Jericho said, as he moved a few feet away, to wait for his next victim.

It didn't seem like he'd been waiting very long, when he saw a large, muscularly built man, in a dark blue uniform, and short, dark hair, enter the lobby through a pair of doors, and head to the front desk.

Jericho watched as the man leaned against the counter, listened to the woman, in matching attire, say something to him, then point in Jericho' direction.

Calmly he watched the uniformed man approach. A shinny silver and gold badge on his left breast pocket.

"I'm Commander Collins. You asked for me?" Wes extended his hand to Jericho, who was dressed appropriately, in a dark suit. Jericho took the offered hand, shaking it slightly.

"Yeah, that was me. Can we go somewhere, were we can't be disturbed?"

"Sure." Wes quickly went back to the desk, pointed to the front doors, got a nod form the woman, then returned to Jericho's side. "Is the parking lot all right? I could use some fresh air."

"That would be great."

Jericho followed Wes out of the building. Silently sizing up the big man in front of him. They walked silently down the steps to the sidewalk, then stopped before a streamlined, black and white.

"What can I do for you?" Wes asked, turning to face Jericho.

"Christopher." Jericho quickly gazed around them, checking to make sure the area was clear. Wes watched him, a little concerned about his actions. "It's the Rangers. We need your help." Wes did a double take of the area around them.

"The Rangers?" Jericho carefully pulled back the cuff of his jacket, to expose the armored morpher on his wrist. "Where are they?" Wes could feel himself switching into leader mode. No wonder he'd decided to become a Silver Guardian after the others left the year 2001.

"In the alley. Over there." Jericho pointed to an alley, a few buildings away.

"Let's go then." Wes took off for the alley, missing the wicked grin on Jericho's face, as he followed.

Wes entered the empty alley, and stopped, looking around.

"Guys?" He called, as he began to carefully walk deeper into the alley. Turning slightly, he saw Jericho enter the alley behind him. Then there were more steps behind him. Wes turned to see Jericho, surrounded by a half dozen Sting Wingers, and the evil woman everyone had come to know as, Trakeena.

"Chris, quick." Wes called to him, as he took his fighting stance. But, Wes was surprised, when Jericho strode, nonchalantly, to Trakeena's side; wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her deeply. "What is this?"

"Great Scott! You're not going to cop out on us now, are you?" Jericho said as he moved to the front of the group.

"You won't get away with this. What do you want Trakeena?" Casually, she moved past Jericho and face to face with Wes.

"The death of the Rangers, but you...I may keep you around for a while." She said gripping his chin between her fingers. Wes pulled away, and grabbed her, spinning her around to face Jericho. His arm wrapped tightly around her neck.

"I wouldn't give you the pleasure." Wes said into her ear.

"You know what they say about Jocks, don't you? Trakeena dear?" Jericho asked sarcastically.

Wes had just a moment of thought, before he felt the sharp edge of her elbow hit his ribs. "You're on your own." She said, before teleporting away from the area.

"Well, that will make it a little more fair. Sting Wingers!" Jericho motioned to the doubled over Wes.

**Moments later**

TJ, followed closely by Andros, entered the Police Station, and headed to the front desk.

"Hi, can I help you?" The uniformed woman asked.

"Yeah. We're looking for Commander Collins." TJ stated, looking back at Andros, who seemed to be checking out every person coming in and out of the room.

"He must be a real popular guy today."

"What do you mean?" TJ turned back to face her, concern on his face. Andros had stopped his observations as well.

Startled, the young woman pointed to the entrance doors. "He left a few minutes ago, with a young gentleman who had asked for him. They were going to talk outside in the parking lot."

It was all TJ could do to keep from bolting. "What did this guy look like?"

"He had blond hair, nearly white, and was wearing a suit and tie, neatly dressed." TJ looked at Andros.

"Thank you." He grabbed Andros by the arm, and headed out the door.

Once outside, TJ ran down the steps toward the parking lot. It was deserted. "She said they'd come outside to talk." Rocky said, looking around.

";If it was Jericho and Trakeena, they wouldn't have..." Just then, a shot echoed up to the station, from down the street. TJ and Andros exchanged glances, before heading down the street in the direction of the shots.

As they passed an alley, they stopped and backtracked, when they heard the sounds of a fight further down the alley.

Following the sounds, they came upon Jason, one arm bleeding, trying to fight off several Sting Wingers. In the shadows, back to them, was Jericho. He stood, all of his weight on one leg, his free hand press firmly over a wound in his other leg, blood seeping between his fingers.

"What a rush!" They heard him saying, through gritted teeth. With a silent nod to each other, TJ rushed the Sting Wingers, as Andros attacked Jericho.

Jericho heard someone approaching, and turned just in time to see the bottom of a boot heading his way. Jericho dodged the attack, but his wounded leg gave out, and he fell to the ground. Looking up, he saw Andros, poised and ready to strike.

Then, before Andros could deliver another blow, Jericho disappeared, and echoing laughter following him. Andros quickly looked over at TJ and Wes. Wes was bent over, blood dripping from his fingers, puddling up on the ground at his feet.

"We need to get you to Angel Grove immediately. A little time on the med-bed, will take care of you." TJ stated, helping Wes to stand.

"Who was that guy?" Jason asked.

"Oh, him? Just the tarnished Silver." TJ stated matter-of-fact. Wes chuckled.

"Still the same old TJ. I think you guys have a little explaining to do."

"Yes, we do." Andros said, as he approached them.

**Chamber of Darkness**

Trakeena stood silently at the window of private quarters. But she wasn't looking out at the large, blue orb of Earth. She was gazing at the still form laying in her bed.

The wound had been deep, and painful. Edge had given Jericho something for the pain, and she had offered the comfort of her own bed, for his recovery, stating that it would be easier for he to keep an eye on him.

Not long after they'd settled him into her bed, he'd fallen into a deep sleep. She'd been watching him every since. Wondering if she hated him as much as she put on, or if there was something more, that she refused to admit to.

She watched the way his platinum hair feathered over his brow. The smooth angles of his face. The rise and fall of his chest, dark against the light colors of the covers. She felt a stirring inside of her. She tried to destroy the feeling, but it refused to go away. And when the voice came, she jumped slightly at it's intrusion into her thoughts.

"You love him. Just as much as I do. If you don't let us go, you'll lose that small part of him, that's left, for good. The evil in him is taking completely over. Making him more and more evil.

"Pretty soon, it won't be you who overthrows Lord Angyr, it will be him. Can you co-exist, with someone who is more evil than you ever dreamed you could be?"

"Stop it!" Trakeena growled out, between clenched teeth. "There is no one more evil than me. And I will destroy Lord Angyr, and my minions will rule at my side!"

"Jericho? When the human part of him is completely gone, you'll be fighting against Jericho, as well as Lord Angyr."

"No!" Trakeena put her hands over her ears, fighting to make the voice leave. After a moment, she let go, and listened quietly. The voice was gone. But, for how long?

Slowly, she crossed the room, and pulling back the covers, she gently slid into the warmth of the bed, next to Jericho. The movement beside him, made him turn slightly, and wrap an arm around her.

**The Taylor Household, Angel Grove, CA**

Kimberly sat in the bathroom upstairs at Zack's, her eyes filled with tears as she rocked back and forth inside the empty tub. She'd told them she needed to take a minute and they'd let her. Now she sat there, bombarded by memories of the past and wishing to a higher power that she wasn't where she was. 'My apartment is sounding really nice right about now' she sighed to herself. At least there she could be alone.

Tommy and Zack had given her a full ten minutes in the bathroom before Tommy left Jason and Aisha's protests downstairs to seek her out. He stood outside the bathroom, his forehead pressed against the door. He could hear her sobs, could feel the pent up emotions coming from her, and from himself. He clenched his eyes shut, imagining again what it had been like to hear her scream his name, terrified, and to know he'd felt the same way when he'd seen Trakeena latch on to her arm. Then there was the shock he'd seen on her face when he'd morphed. Knowing his Kimberly the way he did, he thought before he mentally smacked a hand to his forehead. She isn't MY Kimberly anymore.

She startled him when she opened the door, but he'd surprised the heck out of her, as she hadn't been expecting to see him standing there. "Sorry."

Tommy didn't say anything to her. He simply watched her. Her face, despite that she'd washed it, was red and swollen from crying. Her arms were trembling and he could tell she was struggling to even out her breathing. Wordlessly, he did what he hadn't done in nearly eight years; he pulled her into his arms and held on.

To say Kim was shocked was an understatement. After what had happened at the playground, she hadn't expected this. As the warmth of his embrace seeped into her, the control over her emotions broke, and she started sobbing into his chest.

This was not the Kimberly Hart he knew. The Kim he knew would have...and that's when he realized something more than what had happened this afternoon was getting to her. 'Thomas Oliver, ya dope, you use to know her so well, why did it take so long for you to see this?' he asked himself mentally as he tightened his embrace of her.

After a few minutes, her breathing started to calm down, so much so that Tommy felt her start to slip into the realm of sleep. Shaking his head, he bent down and scooped her up, causing her to gasp slightly, before he took her through the door that led into his room.

Making a mental note to see to her comfort, he laid her gently on his bed and pulled the blankets up around her, even as she protested his actions. "You need to sleep," he murmured softly as he sat on the edge and watched her look up at him. There it was again, he noted when her eyes seemed to change colors. The story of what happened to her was going to have to wait. He slid a hand through his short, spiky hair in agitation. He knew nothing normal would cause Kim's eyes to...

"It's a long story, Tommy, one you're not gonna be happy with."

"We'll talk in the morning, go to sleep," he whispered as he watched her drop off. His thoughts immediately went into over drive. 'This should be interesting, my bed is gonna smell like Kim again' he thought with a half grin. He could remember when they'd been dating, she'd usually come over on Friday and Saturdays and they'd spend all day hanging out on his bed listening to music, watching movies, studying. 'Or the all important making out' he laughed to himself as he moved from the bed to the door, taking one last long look at her before he went downstairs.

"Where's Kim?" Jason asked as Tommy plopped down on the couch next to Zack, putting him between the two of them.

"Sleeping, I hope," Tommy replied as he let his head lean back and rest on the back of the couch.

Jason bit his lip. Before Tommy had come back down, both he and Zack had decided that after what had happened in the park, whether Kimberly liked it or not, Tommy needed to know what happened to her. "Tommy, we need to talk."

Tommy sighed and then looked over at his friends, who both had serious expressions on their faces. "There's something you need to know," Zack started. "Something all of us and Zordon kept from you about Kim."

The look on his face was about as grim as Jason and Zack had ever seen, giving them the feeling that this wasn't going to be easy. "Kim should be the one telling you this, but after today," Jason started, shaking the 'what ifs' from his mind. "Something happened to Kim when she went to Florida, something none of us knew about until shortly before the incident with Divatox."

When Tommy continued to stare at Jason, Zack picked up. "Do you remember how it felt to have your powers taken from you?" At Tommy's nod, Zack continued. "Multiply that about ten times and you'll know exactly what Kim was going through emotionally." Tommy blinked and wanted to shoot himself. 'Of course she would be upset about what happened' he thought to himself.

"Tommy, it was more then a depression that she went through," Jason interrupted Tommy's thoughts. "Because she had her power coin basically ripped from her so fast, only to give it away to Kat after it was retrieved, it sent her spiraling, mentally, emotionally, but most of all physically. Ninjor literally linked the power coins with the six of you, with your souls."

"I don't understand," Tommy started, confusion evident.

"Before the incident with Divatox, Zordon had finally asked Kimberly to come home, so I went and got her and brought her back to Angel Grove. He and Alpha spent the better part of two days running endless tests," Jason supplied, watching Tommy's face for understanding. "After you got the letter, Zordon told me that he thought something was off with Kimberly, like that wasn't something she would do, and I had to agree with him, it wasn't. That girl loved you entirely too much to suddenly fall in love with some flyboy gymnast. Kim was and is not that shallow."

"What happened?"

"They discovered, after some poking and prodding, that she'd had a mental break down right after the Pan Globals," Jason said, and watched his friend's eyes widen in shock. "What's more, her body was still infused with the power of the morphin grid, still linked to her power coin, and with no way to release it, added onto the fact that by then the power coins were useless, some biological changes started happening."

"Her eyes?" Tommy asked.

Zack and Jason nodded. "That's not all," Zack whispered, watching the horror spread across Tommy's face. Immediately, he turned to stare at the staircase.

"What happened?"

Jason licked his lips in frustration. "Divatox and Maligore. After Kim and I were possessed, whatever was happening to her nearly destroyed her, inside and out. Zordon managed to reverse most of it, but by that time, the damage to both of you was done."

"Why are you telling me this Jason? Why now?" Tommy growled as he turned to face them.

Zack's smile was small. "Because, you needed the truth. There was never another guy, she never cheated on you, never fell in love with another - she was trying to protect you from what was happening to her. She swore each and everyone one of us, with the exception of Tanya and Justin, who don't know, to secrecy about this."

"If she loved me as much as she said she did, she'd have wanted my help."

"What would you have done? Dropped everything to be with her?" Jason asked, watching Tommy wince. "When no one went and visited after Christmas, that's when things in her mind really started changing. Zordon told me if we'd went and seen her, there's a slight chance we might have been able to prevent some of it from happening, but Tommy, you were a ranger, the leader, you had no time between school and that, to help her through what she was going through, and the rest of us didn't know what was going on."

"Is there anymore?"

"Yeah," Zack whispered, hating to cause him more pain. "She's still going through changes, hence the changing color of her eyes. Zordon told Jason that he didn't know how long it would take her to recover, that there might be a possibility that she'll never recover."

Tommy sat silently after Zack finished and tried to digest what he and Jason had just told him. Suddenly, everything that had happened eight years before clicked into place. The letter, the incident with Divatox, the reasons behind Alpha and Zordon never really talking about Kim. His eyes welled when he thought of her going through all of that by herself. Shaking his head, he turned to look at his friends, who were watching him with a mixture of sorrow, love, hope, and understanding.

"What about this bright plan of yours?" Tommy asked Jason a moment later, hoping to change the subject.

"Well, I don't think, first of all, that we should take the Rangers with us. You should come, but we know this is gonna be a trap."

"I won't leave them out of the loop Jason," Tommy firmly explained as Jason nodded.

"I thought you were gonna say that. What we need to do is be ready, for anything. You're going to have to tell us all you know about Miller." Jason and Zack's eyes widened at the stricken look on Tommy's face.

"I thought he was more of a lunatic Jas, and I only worked for him for like a year and a half before I worked with Mercer. He's a completely different person now."

Zack cleared his throat, gaining both his friends attention. "Might I also point out that he's got his eye on me as well." Tommy's eyes darkened at that piece of information.

"Excuse me?"

Jason shot Zack a look. "He and Kim got into it this afternoon when we met up with him," Jason started as Zack tried to turn her attention to other things. "He's got something planned, for you more than likely, and Kim let him know in no uncertain terms was he to mess with you."

"How'd she end up the target?" Tommy asked suddenly.

"Her mouth," Jason laughed. "It was kinda funny, and really heartwarming cause it was like the old Kim breaking free. The only problem is, now he's going to use her against you."

"I know someone who might be able to help us," Zack said as he stood and walked over to grab his phone. He hit the power button and then dialed someone's number. Jason and Tommy could barely hear, but knew that someone instantly picked up. "Deadman, I need you to come to my house bright and early tomorrow, we've got a problem."

"Who were you talking to, Zack?" Jason asked as Zack hung up, his face bright red as he turned to look at his friends.

Swallowing, Zack watched the way his friends looked at him curiously. "My partner in crime," he started, watching Tommy's eyebrow shoot up in question. "He helped me test the Exo-suit."

"Oh."


	6. Dinner Best Served Cold

A/N: Please Read and Review, please.

Dedicated to the Memory of Lorenzen Wright November 4, 1975 - July 28, 2010

Disclaimer: Power Rangers are property of Saban Brands, Inc. All WWE Programming, talent names, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves,trademarks, logos, and copyrights of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Rated T

Tommy sat in the chair in the corner of his room, watching as the figure on the bed slept on in ignorance. He'd left Jason and Zack to their own devices an hour before, simply telling them he was going to check on Kimberly.

He understood now what Zack had meant by Kim was still going through changes. In the hour that he'd sat with her, he watched her levitate off the bed and back, had watched her hair change from caramel brown to blonde to red and back, and he heard her whimpering every so often when something in her dreams upset her.

To say he was having a hard time dealing with it was an understatement. All he really wanted to do was to go back in time and make things right. 'Gee, you've had that thought before, Oliver' he thought to himself, a mental image of the island he had worked on exploding coming to mind.

He was snapped from his thoughts by Kimberly sitting straight up in the bed and screaming, "TOMMY!"

He didn't stop to think, he just dove for her. In an instant, she was wrapped in his arms, head snuggled against his chest, her sobs quieting. He murmured soft words that would be forgotten later on, hoping to comfort her. "I'm right here Kim, it's alright," he whispered, stroking her hair and kissing her temple.

She gasped and struggled to breath. The nightmare had been so real, so terrifying, that waking up with Tommy's arms around her had confused her to the point of frustration. "Tommy?" she squeaked his name softly.

"Yes Beautiful?" he asked softly, watching her eyes widen at the use of her old nickname. The look in his eyes told her everything. He knew her secret.

She started crying then, heart wrenching sobs that stole Tommy's breath and helped reassert that over protectiveness of his where she was concerned. He crushed her closer to him, hoping to help her block out the thoughts that were swirling in her head. "Kim," he whispered, rubbing a hand along her back a few moments later as she calmed down.

"Jason told you, didn't he?" she asked, laying her head against his chest. Somehow, she wasn't all that surprised that Jason would tell him after what had happened that afternoon.

"Yes, and we'll talk about it tomorrow. Right now," Tommy spoke, easing her back onto the bed and tucking the covers around her. "You need to go back to sleep."

"Tommy."

"I'm not going anywhere, lay down and sleep," he murmured, pecking a kiss to her forehead as she closed her eyes and drifted off.

The next day...

"Morning sunshine!" Jason quipped as Kimberly walked into the kitchen. She still wore her clothes from the night before, so she looked a little rumpled as she stared at Jason, Zack, Tommy and the darkly dressed man in the room.

She had slept soundly after Tommy had tucked her in that last time, but she had still been plagued by bad dreams. Her reaction to Jason's happy mood - a low, guttural growl that had everyone's smiles fading. "Stuff it Jason," she mumbled as she advanced to the table. Tommy and Zack had left a chair open for her between them, so she went to sit, only to be grabbed by Tommy and pulled into his lap, which surprised her.

"You feel any better?" he asked as he hugged her to him. Giving up on trying to sit and get her head together, she shrugged and snuggled closer to him. "Kim?"

"Hmm?"

"Tommy, leave her be, she looks exhausted," the man, who Kim didn't know, reprimanded Tommy as he stood to get a cup of orange juice for Kim. "Here ya go."

Tommy watched Kim take the cup and shyly smile at the Undertaker, until a darkness crossed her features. Almost immediately Kim slipped off his lap and sat in her chair. She looked from Tommy, to 'Taker and back, trying to figure out their relationship. All four of the others caught onto her train of thought. "I'm the Undertaker, these guys know me,," the black haired man spoke softly.

Kim's eyes widened a bit as she nodded. 'Well duh! I'll bet this is his buddy from miles away' she thought, feeling her heart start to crack. "It's not what you think Kim."

"And just what do you think I'm thinking Dr. Oliver?" Kim asked, her voice harsh. Tommy winced at the sound.

"I know Tommy and Zack through their old friend, the Assistant to the Traveling Secretary," 'Taker started. "I helped him test out the Exo-Suit that Zack created, among other things." Now that was definitely not what Kim had been expecting. "It's nice to finally meet the girl who's got him wrapped around her little finger."

Kim looked from 'Taker to Tommy in shock. Did that mean that he... she wasn't even going to hope for what she knew she'd never be able to have, it was pretty useless. "Beautiful?" Tommy asked softly, watching Kim's eyes well with tears as she looked away from him to Zack and Jason. Reaching over, Tommy's hand found her chin and gently forced her to face him. What he saw broke his heart. His Kim looked so defeated, so vulnerable. "Will you go with me later? I've got a couple of errands to run and then I was thinking of taking a walk along the beach. We need to have that talk."

Kim nodded.

"Where are Kim and Tommy and who's this?" Rocky asked as the group arrived at Tommy's house.

'Taker smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rocky," he spoke, watching the former red ranger's face go from shock to confusion.

"Undertaker helped Dr. O and I with the Exo-suit as well as the blasters," Zack spoke, watching Rocky stare at 'Taker until Aisha whacked him in the stomach.

"Why don't you retract the tongue, Ape Boy," Aisha muttered as Rocky blushed and nodded, before leaning over to peck a kiss to her cheek.

Jason and Tori nodded and everyone settled in on the steps or the porch out front. "Where are they?" Adam asked softly.

"Getting food for all of us then they're going somewhere to talk, and hopefully make things right between them."

Ashley's answer seemed to quiet the group until Zack stood in frustration. "Isn't there something we can do besides sit here?" Billy nodded his agreement, as did the others.

"We could train for a while," Jason suggested. Everyone looked around and immediately jumped up and went out into the yard to begin working out.

"You guys go ahead, me and 'Taker will hit Silver Hills for the others," Zack said.

"But Zack, Andros said Wes is here, nursing his wounds from an Sting Winger assault," Rocky said.

"I know, we're get the other two...Jen and Eric."

"Oh."

**Miles away...**

"Why didn't you just call and tell me what was going on Kim?" Tommy asked as they sat staring at the ocean before them. They'd been talking for nearly an hour and Kim had told him everything Jason and Kat had, and then some.

"Like Jason said to you last night," she started, bringing up what Tommy had told her. "What were you gonna do, drop everything? Tommy, you had more important things then a mentally unstable former ranger to worry about."

"DAMMIT KIM!" he very nearly yelled as threw the pebbles he'd been holding out into the water. "YOU WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO ME!"

Kim's eyes sparkled with love and sadness and the tears that were welling in their depths. "I know, which was another reason for the letter. All your focus, all your attention needed to be on the battle, not on me."

"But it was on you anyway, cause I spent the better part of year trying to figure out what the hell had happened between us," Tommy pointed out as he watched the tears cascade down her face. He knew he was being harsh and unyielding, but she had to know that what she did to him had been uncalled for.

"If I could go back and change it, I would, but what's done is done!" It was Kim's turn to yell at him, as she stood from her position and paced in front of him. "Tommy, I thought of you every day, every time I saw the news about Angel Grove, every time one of my teammates asked about my life back home. I thought I was dying, and I wanted you to remember me the way I had been instead of the way I was. It's still a miracle to me that I survived through the Pan Globals and then the Olympics, let alone what happened in Murianthas."

He wanted to throw something, to punch something, as he watched her fall apart. Kat had been right, whatever Kim had gone through, it had been ten times worse compared to whatever he'd gone through, losing his powers and losing her combined. He had been allowed to be naïve about what had happened between them, she had had to live with what happened between them every day, knowing that she'd sacrificed both their hearts because she thought she would leave this world permanently. "Where do we go from here?" he asked her, his voice low and strained with emotion. When she looked at him, he saw her answer before she even spoke.

"That's entirely up to you. If you want me to just leave when this is all done, I will," Kim spoke, watching the hurt flash across his face at the thought of her leaving. She had a feeling she already knew what his answer was going to be. "If you want to try and make a go of it again, I'm willing to work on that. I'm leaving the decision up to you this time."

Tommy scrambled to his feet at her final words, his arms immediately going around her. He could feel her shake when he pulled her to him, hugged her close. "I want what was taken from us," he whispered softly, pulling back just far enough to watch her smile. "I know it's not going to be the same this time."

"No, it's gonna be different, better," she whispered.

Tommy moved in closer to her and did what he'd been dying to do for nearly eight years - he kissed her. It wasn't an innocent kiss, it was a passionate one. It conveyed every suppressed emotion that either of them had had in eight years, it conveyed everything they wanted to say and couldn't, everything they felt and couldn't name. "Welcome home," Tommy whispered against her lips, smiling as she giggled, a sound that took him back to the first time he'd kissed her.

"It's good to be home," she poignantly whispered back.

**Miller Labs**

"Mr. Miller, explain to me why you've invited Dr. Taylor and his friends to dinner?" a young woman in her early 30s questioned as she watched her employer get ready for this big shindig they were having in a couple of hours.

"It's none of your business Ms. Lowe," Anton told her, quickly finishing the knot of his tie. "Besides, you won't be staying for dinner. You're to go to your room and stay there. I have some unfinished business to attend to with all of them."

She simply watched him and wondered again how much he had changed since the incident with the exploding island.

**Silver Hills Park, Silver Hills CA**

She could hear explosions ahead of her, and smell the acrid smoke of burning trees. Her anger flared higher, as she pushed the Hummer further down the dirt road.

Road? It was barely a trail through the heavy forest of California.

Since her return from the year 3007, Jen had decided to move to an area where her expertise in environmentalism could do the best work. From here, she knew what was happening everywhere.

Another large rock in the trail, brought her thoughts back to the present moment.

The smoke had grow thicker, she knew she was close. "Isn't it bad enough that people have to clear whole forests, just to put up shopping malls? Now we've got some crazy campers setting fires to our national forests, as well?"

Trini brought the Hummer to a stop. The trial ended here. She would have to go in on foot. She gazed around her, to see forestry, law enforcement trucks on the scene, and she could also make out the, snake like, hoses leading from the fire trucks into the trees.

Grabbing her pack, she stepped out of the Hummer, placed the hard hat on her head, and headed into the woods, following the hoses.

She also spotted Eric Myers, Co-Commander of the Silver Guardians. He shook his head in disgust.

"Ain't it awful, Jen?" Eric said.

"Yeah, but who could have done this?" Jen said.

While they were talking a figure hid behind the trees.

"You see something, Eric?" Jen said to Eric.

"I have no idea, Jen, but we've got company," Eric replied.

"I just love the smell of fresh, burning trees, in the morning." McIntyre crowed, as he leapt over fallen trees, and looked upon the destruction with pride.

Several, 'yellow' dressed bodies lay scattered about the clearing, others, he knew, were hiding amongst the trees.

Who cared about those. They were cowards. He stopped suddenly, listening to another tree burst into flames. With a sigh of pleasure, he proceeded around the area. The smoke nearly invisible, as he gazed around, through the visor of his helmet. And he also noticed someone new, joining the party.

"Hey guys!" He called out to the Sting Wingers that were scattered around.

Jen and Eric thought she saw someone dressed in Silver, with several robot looking figures around him, but they couldn't tell for sure, through the thick smoke. Jen glanced around at the bodies scattered around. A fire hose flailed around, like some mythic sea creature, spewing water everywhere. She tried harder to see what she thought to be a man. A light breeze moving the smoke around. Was that a Silver Ranger? She had barely enough time to question, before she heard his voice.

"I think we've got a tiny little problem here."

He stood amongst the flames and smoke, like some demon from hell. His legs were spread slightly apart, and arms crossed over his chest. Giving an air of superiority. And she knew, that behind that helmet, he was watching every move that she made.

With a nod of his head, the robot like creatures began to advance on her. Before she could turn and run, she was surrounded by a rainbow of colors. The columns of light took shape of the Black Ranger, as well as the Undertaker wearing the Exo-suit, right before her eyes. She'd never been happier to see a group of people in her life.

She had just enough time to wonder if she'd know any of them, before she was hustled to safety, behind a large tree, by 'Taker. "You should be safe here."

"Thanks." Jen watched 'Taker join the Black Ranger, and noticed how much 'Taker's movements and actions mirrored Zack's.

If she didn't know, for a fact, that Zack was still in Reefside, she'd say Zack had rejoined the team.

"Welcome, welcome. Now, which one of you is Rainbow Brite?" The Silver Ranger quipped.

"Ewww. That's worse than Wes's stuff." Eric said to herself. Thinking that maybe Wes had become the bad guy, if he didn't know any better. But, he did know better than that.

A sudden silence came over the forest then. No birds chirping, no sounds of insects in the trees. And it suddenly began to get dark. This seemed to confuse everyone, except the Rangers, who took the opportunity to rush the Silver Ranger, and his goons.

Jen and Eric watched the fight, holding themselves back from joining in. It had been a very long time.

A sudden rumbling began to shake the area, and Jen looked up to see a dark black Hummer, coming through the area.

"Who reprogrammed the sinthitron to produce Jolt Cola?" Came the voice of the Red Space Ranger.

Eric smiled. Jolt Cola? It could only have been Andros. Some things never changed.

"Why is everyone always raining on my parties!" Screamed the Silver Ranger, in rage.

Jen didn't hear the footsteps in the mud behind her, but she felt the cold metal arms wrap around her.

Rule #1, do not, sneak up on a Time Force Ranger! With a hi-ya, Jen flipped the Sting Wingers over her back, and planted a booted foot, squarely in his face. Or, what she assumed, was a face. She looked up, at the sound of the Silver Ranger's angry yell.

"It isn't over yet Rangers, you still have a few friends left to find, and I have few to kill." In a flash of light, the Silver Ranger disappeared, along with his goons.

The Rangers ran to Jen's side. "Are you all right?" Asked the Red Ranger. Red, how she missed that color so much.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Who else do you have up there besides Wes?" The Rangers looked at each other, clearly confused. "I heard the 'wahoo', and the comment about the Jolt Cola. There's only one person I know of who does that..."

"Rocky." Came the unanimous reply of five Rangers, followed by laughter.

**Chamber of Darkness**

"What's your excuse this time?" Trakeena demanded of McIntyre, once he was finally aboard.

"My underwear were chaffing, and my boots were all squishy. You can't possibly expect me to fight in those kinds of conditions."

"Would you be serious for once!"

"Alright! We were taken by surprise, and my leg was killing me. The Red Ranger kicked me pretty hard."

Trakeena looked down at his shoulder, and could see the blood seeping through his clothes. "They still have to find few more. We're not down and out yet." McIntyre stated flatly. "They'll no doubt head for Angel Grove next."

"You're right, and...I'm sorry." Trakeena looked up into his eyes, a smile slowly returning to his face.

"Me too." Slowly, McIntyre kissed her, then, moving apart, they left the deck to get McIntyre medical attention. From out of the shadows, having been silent for so long, stepped Edge.

"Who are you, my Princess, and who is he?"

**Meanwhile...**

"It's good to see you two again," Jen said.

"It's also good to see you too, Jen," Zack said. "And it's nice to meet you, Commander Myers."

"Zack, where's Wes? Last I heard, he was attacked," Jen said, frantically to Zack.

"He's fine, he's at my house recovering," Zack said. " We need help on this Trakeena problem, and I thought..."

"Say no more, Zack, we'll help," Eric said.

"So will I," Jen said.

"Let's head back to Angel Grove," Zack said.

**Angel Grove moments later...**

"They're back," Adam called to the others as he, Aisha, Rocky, Tori and Rocky sat on the steps of Tommy's porch. When the jeep and the Hummer pulled up into the driveway, Kim and Tommy looked as their friends congregated on the small porch, watching and waiting for an answer. Tommy smiled at his better half when she giggled.

"They look a little nervous," Kim quipped as the two of them got out of the jeep and began carrying groceries into the house. Neither said a word to the others as they unloaded bags.

"Are you guys gonna stare at us or help?" Tommy rolled his eyes at the others, who immediately recovered and began to help him and Kim unload.

After the groceries were unpacked and put away, Kim started in on lunch. "What's Ms. Kimmie making for lunch, I'm starving!" Rocky's stomach growled in agreement with his question and statement.

The others laughed and simply shook their heads. "We're having Salad, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and steaks, as soon as Tommy, Zack, and you get that grill working," Kim informed him, watching as Rocky shot out of the kitchen to find his fellow former red rangers, who had gone outside to start the grill. Ashley, Aisha, Jen, Tori and Kira laughed and then joined Kim to make everything else while the rest of the guys all followed Rocky outside.

A half hour later, the girls emerged from the kitchen and found Tommy and Zack at the grill, talking about the best way to cook the steaks. Billy and Trent sat in lawn chairs, discussing the importance of computers in science while they watched Jason, Adam, Rocky, Andros, TJ, Wes and Eric, who had had grouped together, play a game of touch football. "Just like old times." Kimberly's murmured statement had everyone's attention. There had been a time, some years before, when all of the older rangers could remember doing exactly this at one of their houses on any given Saturday.

Smiling, Kim shook off the déjà vu feeling and sat down on the steps. Kira went back in and then came back out, guitar in hand and sat next to her, immediately starting to sing something she'd been working on and asking Kim for her opinion. 'Taker and Tori sat on the edge of the porch and talked about the dinner for later that night at Miller's house. Ashley and Aisha, seeing that the boys were having fun with the football, decided to join them, Ashley joining Adam, TJ and Jason while Aisha grouped with Wes, Rocky and Eric. "You know Kira," Zack started as he and Tommy approached the porch. "You sound just like Kim did at your age."

Kira smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment." All eyes immediately went to where Tommy was pulling Kimberly off the porch and into his arms. Several sighs and 'You Go Man's' could be heard as Tommy swooped down and kissed the woman in his arms.

"I hate to interrupt the moment," Trent spoke, watching as Tommy, Zack, and several of the others glared at him. "But what time are we supposed to be at Dr. Miller's?"

"God Trent!" Kira muttered as she swung a hand out and smacked him upside the head. He flinched when she did and then glared at her. "You know how to kill the moment, don't you?"

**The Miller Mansion, That night...**

Four hours later, at exactly six thirty, two limos pulled up in front of the Miller residence, as well as a jeep behind them. The group of old and new rangers piled out and stood staring in awe at the monstrosity that was Leonard Miller's home. Being careful to not let the two limo drivers see them, Zack, Wes, Jen and Tommy sat in Zack's Hummer a little longer and continued to speak with 'Taker, who was back in the lab monitoring all of the elder rangers. "You've got everything?" Zack whispered.

"Yes. I've got visuals from you, Tommy, Billy, Kimberly, Wes, Kira, and Jen. I've also got all of your vitals pulled up on the monitor. Are you ready for this?"

Zack thought about that question for a minute. "Not really, but I'm going to have to deal with it the best I can, aren't I?"

"Just remember, you're better than he is and you've got your entire team to back you up, old and new, powers and without. Deadman out."

Zack smiled at that and got out of the jeep first. Once he and the others joined the assembled group, the doors to the Miller home opened and Miller stepped out, his butler and several bodyguards following. Tommy watched the man he thought he'd known as he surveyed the group of rangers. When Leonard's eyes landed on Jen, Tommy watched Wes wrap his arm around her shoulders. When they landed on Aisha and Tori, both Zack and Billy suddenly stepped up and slipped their arms through the girls', hands holding and fingers locking. When Miller's eyes went to Kira, Tommy watched in slight surprise as both Trent and Rocky stepped closer to her, shushing her protest. And when his eyes finally landed on Kimberly, Tommy made his move. Striding forward, he watched Miller's eyes narrow when he was within inches of Kim, then those hard eyes became slits when Tommy wrapped his arm possessively around Kim's waist, her head snuggling into the crook of his shoulder. "I'm not a tug-o-war rope," Kimberly whispered to Tommy, who looked down at her and smiled boyishly.

"I'm a little territorial, so sue me," he whispered back as she rolled her eyes at him. Tommy took a quick look around at the others and noted they were waiting for HIM to step toward Miller.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Miller greeted them. "Dinner will be served in exactly a half hour, why don't you follow me and we'll have appetizers in the library." With that, Miller turned and strode into the house. When the security guards, who looked more like thugs than anything, stepped forward, guns in hand, the group became unsure.

Jen leaned forward to whispered to Kim and Tommy. "I don't like this."

Kim nodded, as did Tommy. "We don't have much of choice now, let's go," Tommy spoke as he and Kimberly stepped up the walk and into the house, the others following close behind.

"I'm sure you're all probably wondering why I've summoned you all here," Miller started as the group settled in the library. Somehow, the new rangers had ended up sitting on the couch, or the floor, with Tommy and Kim in the middle, with the older rangers spread out around the moderately sized two room library. "It's funny really, but you're here for a reason."

"What kind of reason, Leonard?" Zack questioned as he narrowed his gaze to just Miller.

"The word of Trakeena reborn has gotten earth shivering," Miller spoke, watching as the group's collective expression was that of suspicion. 'Good, let them worry and wonder' he thought darkly.

Billy was the first to step up to the plate and try to get some info on Trakeena's rebirth from Miller. "What exactly do you mean by Reborn?"

"Ah yes, as you've probably noticed, you've seen three of these individuals who are also wrestlers, are you not?" Those who had instantly caught on to who he was talking about felt a sick feeling in their stomachs, those who didn't watched their fellow rangers in worry. "I have the antidote for their brainwashed minds and to topple Trakeena."

"Are we supposed to take her down just like that?" Tori demanded as Jason held her tightly to his side.

Miller smiled. "Yes and no, my dear," he mocked Tori, who's blue eyes glared back at him. "We rescue them, give them the antidote, and lock up Trakeena into one of our cryogenic cells. I am only asking for your assistance."

Suddenly, everyone was protesting. "If you decline, your friends forfeit their lives, and so will you."

Tommy held Kim's hand to the point that she felt as if the bones were breaking. "Tommy, we don't have a choice," Kim whispered. She knew very well who Miller was talking about.

"How do we know you're not lying?" Jason asked suddenly.

"Simple, you don't. It's your decision, if you'd like to chance your friends." The mutual feeling for the entire group was a sickening dread that was curling in their stomachs. How could they not save their friends.

"What do we have to do?" Tommy asked, once the general consensus of the entire group was to rescue their friends.

"You're bluffing, Miller, you know it," Zack said. "And if I find out you're in on the take, we will have no choice but to take you down as well."

"I can assure you, Dr. Taylor, I'm not bluffing," Miller said.

**The Taylor house, later that night...**

Tommy sat back in his chair in the lair and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. He and Zack had been going over the audio and video recordings since the rangers had returned to his house four hours before at nine o'clock. Sighing, he looked over to where Zack was looking at the computer screen. When the door to the lair opened, Tommy swiveled his chair around to see who was coming in. The sight of Kimberly carrying to steaming mugs made him smile. "Hey Beautiful," he whispered as she sat one down in front of him and took the other to Kira's sleeping form. Carefully, she shook Kira awake and murmured to her to go get some sleep.

Once they were alone, Kim went over to stand next to where Tommy was sitting, staring at the computer before him. "Figure anything out?" she whispered.

"Not a damn thing," he told her watching her nod. "What's wrong? I thought you'd be asleep by now."

"Too much running through my head for me to sleep," she whispered as she crouched down next to his chair. He turned to face her, smiling as she placed her palms lightly on the tops of his thighs to steady herself. "You OK?"

He didn't answer, he simply looked at her. Whatever had been going on with her last night, he hadn't seen much more than a flicker of an eye color all day. 'That should be a good sign' he thought as he reached up and ran his fingers over her cheek and into her hair. "You're worried about what's gonna happen, I can see it in your eyes," Kim spoke as he nodded.

"Yes, because once again the fate of the world, and our friends' lives, rests on the shoulders of a bunch of teenagers," he retorted as she laughed.

"Not quite. Last time I checked, the only teenagers around here were Kira, Trent and Tori. We haven't been teenagers for a while."

"Things were so much simpler then."

"Simpler? Tommy are you nuts? We were doing this on a damn near daily basis as teenagers, when were things ever simple for us?" she incredulously asked as he laughed at her, shrugging at her question.

He watched the grin slowly appear on her face, and felt his heart all but burst at the fact that they, despite what was going on right this instant, were happy again, and would be happy in the future, because he knew that they were meant to be. Time and distance may have taken them down different paths but they had found their way back to one another. "You know, I could have used your help earlier," Tommy started as Kim looked up at him in confusion. "When they were down here with me, between them and Jason, all I heard was how you and I were the longest ever ranger couple and how things seem to be going back to that."

Kim laughed, but inside she could feel her heart break a little. 'If I had just asked for his help, we would have never had to be apart for this long' she thought to herself. It was true though, from what she knew, that they had indeed been the longest running ranger couple, and that in itself was every bit as miraculous as them being together again. When one is charged with saving the planet, it is nearly a proven fact that romance has no part in the equation. Somehow though, they had been able to manage it all those years ago, and God willing, they were gonna do it again. "Come on, you've been down here long enough. You need sleep," Kim pulled on his arms as she stood before him, tugging him out of his chair and toward her. She yelped in surprise when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him.

They clung to one another, minds racing. How something so right could have gone so wrong, they never would understand, but they both knew in that instant that they had been given a second chance most never got even close to. "Stay with me tonight," Tommy whispered in her ear, grinning foolishly when she shivered and nodded her head. Together, they turned for the stairs, making their way quietly through the house of sleeping rangers and up to Tommy's room.

Kim froze as they crossed the threshold of his bedroom, watching nervously as Tommy shut and locked his door. So much was going through her mind that she spaced out, so when Tommy gently touched her hands, she flinched. She saw the worried expression on his face and smiled, hoping to ease it. "Tommy," she whispered softly, looking up at him, praying that he had retained that unique ability to tell how she was feeling without her speaking the words.

She needn't have worried. He saw what she was thinking as clearly as he would have had he been reading a book. They had been close, as close as possible considering the circumstances of their teenage years, but they had never moved beyond the simple intimacy of kissing and holding one another. And if Tommy had read her eyes correctly, she had never made it further with anyone else than that. His mind argued that they should just go to bed, sleep off the exhaustion of the day, but his heart, his heart had other plans. They had never been together like that, and from the look in her eyes, he knew she needed the closeness. "Are you sure you're ok with this, Beautiful?" he whispered as he pulled her to him. He went slow, not wanting to scare her. After everything she'd been through...tonight had to be special.

"I've never been as sure as when I'm with you," she whispered, watching that grin she loved so much cross his features.

Tommy nodded, then leaned down and kissed her. It started out innocently enough, but the years of their separation, the fact that they were alone in his locked bedroom, and the uncertainty of the coming days were enough to have the passion that had been held at bay lash out of them both.

Kim let out a tiny moan of pleasure when Tommy wrapped his arms around her, cupping her bottom and pulling her upwards, bringing her closer to him. Somewhere in her love/lust induced mind, she thought that if this was what had been simmering under the surface all those years before, then it's a wonder he hadn't exploded every time they had stopped before going too far too soon.

Tommy wrenched his mouth away from hers a few minutes later, burying his head in the crook of her shoulder as he held on and fought to catch his breath. He could feel Kim's harsh breath on his own neck, could feel her body shudder at his touch; it made him smile. Once he regained some control, he stepped back, bent down, hoisted her into his arms much to her surprise, and moved toward the bed.

He sat her gently on the edge, bending down when she was secure so he could remove her socks. Once her feet were bare, he moved up, his hands sliding along the outside of her legs and up to her waist. She was wearing a pair of black jeans, a tank top, and one of his old white and black flannel shirts that she had borrowed earlier in the evening in favor of a jacket when she and the girls had gone outside to sit and watch the stars. His hands slipped under the flannel as they journeyed up her sides, and he quickly had the shirt off of her.

As soon as Tommy had her shirt off, Kim growled slightly, taking the initiative, and grasped the bottom of her tank top, yanking it off as quickly as she could. She smiled when Tommy gulped in surprise. 'Good, let him expect the unexpected with me' she giggled to herself as she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him to her. They held on, savoring what they were feeling, doing. This was definitely a milestone for the two of them.

Sitting back, Tommy pulled his tight black shirt off and tossed it on the floor with Kim's tank top. He smiled when her eyes popped open in surprise. 'That's right Kim, I've filled out a little bit more since the last time you saw me' he thought with humor as he watched her soft hand reach out and tentatively touch the muscles of his chest.

Deciding that while the feel of Kim's small hands on his skin was nice, he still wanted more. Leaning forward, he reached around her and undid the clasp of her bra, sliding the material from her shoulders as he leaned back. He hadn't fully uncovered her when he leaned back, as he wanted to see her approval of this before did. What he saw was her eyes clenched closed and her teeth gnawing on her bottom lip. She was scared. Knowing that he needed to calm her fears, Tommy leaned forward again, his lips seeking out the spot where her shoulder and neck met. He could feel her shiver at the contact, which made him smile. Slowly, as he peeled the bra from her, he placed tiny kisses on her skin, following its path.

When he finally sat back, satin pink bra in hand, he eyes feasted on the most incredible sight he'd ever been privileged to see - Kim bare to the waist, hands trembling as she held the blankets tightly. "Absolutely gorgeous," he whispered as he leaned forward, the bra forgotten in his lap and touched her with his fingertips. Her eyes flew open and locked with his, her surprise at his wanting to touch her evident.

"Tommy," she whispered seconds later, the raw need in her voice enough to have him shivering. He nodded, stood up, pulled her to him, and hugged her. Slowly, they finished undressing and then crawled into his bed.

Their explorations of each other's skin seemed to go on forever. A touch here, a kiss there, until they both knew they were tired of waiting. Tommy took the proper precaution, and then rejoined her on the bed.

Before long, they were both so lost in each other that nothing short of an atomic explosion would have disturbed them. When they both peaked, they were staring into one another's eyes, hands clasped together, faces centimeters apart. The love that had appeared out of nowhere with one glance a decade before, that had evolved slowly for nearly three years into something solid and heartwarming before it had crumbled, burst into passionate flames with the same, miniscule act that had brought them together.

In the aftermath of their coupling, Kim was nestled into Tommy's warm embrace, her head on his shoulder, body pressed against him as tightly as she could manage, and her right hand splayed across his chest, palm directly above where his heart steadily beat. Tommy had his arm wrapped around her waist, face turned toward the top of her head where he pecked an occasional kiss.

Later...

"I just can't believe it," Zack said. " Not only we have to fight Trakeena and her brainwashed wrestlers, we have to form an all-star team of good guys for the job. That and Miller's threatening remarks. Of all things I should have stayed away, considering an war with him would be catastrophic."

"It's not your fault, Zack," Wes said. "In my mind, Miller is the guilty party aside from Trakeena. We have to take her down at all costs, regardless of what Miller said."

"Well, I gotta get ready for my match at the Angel Grove Coliseum tomorrow. Can't miss that," 'Taker said.

"All right, I'll see you when we get there," Zack said.

"We gotta round up a group of four guys to help us?" Wes said.

"Yeah, and I have an idea who I'm using this time around," Zack said.

TBC...


	7. Torn from the Group

A/N: Please Read and Review, please.

Dedicated to the Memory of Lance Cade March 2, 1981 – August 13, 2010

Disclaimer: Power Rangers are property of Saban Brands, Inc. All WWE Programming, talent names, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves,trademarks, logos, and copyrights of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Rated T

Sunday, 7:30 A.M.

The first sensation she had upon waking was that she was cold, and on closer inspection, alone in the bedroom. She blushed lightly, realizing that she and Tommy had made love merely hours before. Smiling, she sat up, hugging the sheets to her, and looked around the room. The door was ajar a bit, but other than that, it looked like he'd simply disappeared from the room. Leaning over, she ran her hand along the side of the bed where he'd slept. When her hand brushed over very cool sheets, she frowned. 'Where is that man of mine?' she thought, allowing the giddiness to overwhelm her for a moment. Sighing in frustration, she tossed the sheets aside and got out of bed.

Meanwhile...

"Where is everyone?" Kira asked tiredly as she stretched. She'd been sleeping on the floor, squished between Tori and TJ, which while it hadn't been an entirely pleasant experience, didn't upset her like it would have a few months before.

A deep and familiar voice chuckled from above her head. Looking up, she saw that Jason lay on the couch, Ashley is asleep next to him, and Zack is standing over them, reading the Angel Grove Daily, the local newspaper of choice for Rangers; active and inactive. "Kim's still sleeping, Aisha dragged Rocky and Adam out for breakfast supplies, Billy took Eric and Jen to the store for computer parts, Wes's downstairs working already and Tommy just came down. As to where Trent and Andros are, you're guess is as good as mine."

Kira laughed, rolling to her side, propping her head up on an upturned palm, and stared up at the former lead ranger. "So what's on your agenda for today?" she quipped.

"Me, I'm going to help Tommy and Zack whip you baby rangers' butts into shape for this war with Trakeena," Jason chuckled at the incredulous look on Kira's face.

"Excuse me, Mr. Scott," she spoke icily. "We aren't as inexperienced as you've been led to believe."

"Knock it off, both of you, before you wake Ashley up," Kim hissed as she stepped off the last stair. Both Kira and Jason looked at her in surprise. "Jason, where's Tommy?"

Blinking to recover from her surprise attack, he nodded to the front door. Taking his nod for what it was worth, Kim strode purposefully through the front room and out onto the front porch. A few yards away, beneath a tree, Tommy sat, meditating. She smiled and then quietly made her way towards him.

"Hey handsome," she whispered softly as she sat down in front of him. She noticed the grim smile on his face that clued her into his attention when he didn't open his eyes. "Is something wrong?"

This time, when Tommy sighed, his eyes opened and took in the woman in front of him. She was wearing his discarded shirt from the night before along with a pair of short shorts. Immediately, he could tell that Kim had picked up on his thoughts. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked, genuinely worried.

"No, it's me," he whispered, looked down at the grass before bringing his eyes back up to hers. "Kim, about last night..."

God knew she'd never wanted to hear those words come out of his mouth in that tone. Immediately, her eyes welled. He regretted what had happened between them, she could see it in his eyes before he even said it. "What about last night?" her voice cracked on the last couple of words.

"As much as I enjoyed being with you like that, I think we went too far too soon," he murmured, watching the shock and betrayal whip across her features. "We've only just gotten back together, I think we should slow down and take a look at what we're doing and how fast we're doing it."

She simply stared at him. She couldn't help it. Part of her was furious with him, and herself, for allowing the previous nights events to be tarnished, but she also understood where he was coming from. He was still scared for their future, still wondering about their past, that he wanted to approach their present as cautiously as possible.

"I see," she started, wishing to God she really didn't see where he was coming from.

"Kim, I didn't mean to make last night sound so..."

"Cheap?" she voiced, watching him wince. "Sorry, I know you didn't," she waved off her words. "I understand where you're coming from, but I wish to God you wouldn't deface what happened last night. What happened was something special, something that should have happened eight years ago," she finished, watching his eyes widen in shocked surprise. She had a point, last night was the culmination of the inevitable for them. He simply nodded and watched as she stood from her spot.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he stood with her a moment later.

She smiled up at him. "For a run. I need to clear my head and be alone for a few." With that, she leaned up, pecked a kiss to his cheek, and then started jogging away from him.

Tommy watched her go and wasn't sure why his heart felt like it had been ripped out of his chest again. "You know, after what the others told us yesterday, we would have thought you learned your lesson where she's concerned." Tommy slowly turned to face the two girls behind him.

When he glared that famous look their way, he watched in amazement as they didn't even flinch. "Mind your own business."

"It is our business," Kira spoke watching Tommy's gaze narrow on his face. "You're our teacher, our mentor, fellow ranger, and our friend."

"And Kim there happens to be our friend and fellow ranger as well, ex or not," Tori simply stated, watching Tommy roll his eyes at them.

Tommy didn't say anything, he simply brushed past them to go back in the house. He had work to do and he knew if he stayed with Kira and Tori any longer they'd have him running after Kimberly.

9:45 A.M.

"Alright Billy-man," Rocky started later that morning as everyone but Kim gathered with Tommy, Zack, and the new rangers in the yard. "How are we going to do this?"

"Simple," Billy pointed out as he handed each of them a paper with what looked like a set of football-style plays on it. "Zack and I came up with this. With Trakeena running around, and her wrestlers are somewhat brainwashed, we should tackle them head on, no exceptions."

"But we also think we should have a little challenge, in terms of martial arts," Jen said. "This will help you be better prepared."

Kira, Tori and Trent stared at the paper then looked up at the former Blue Ranger. "Yeah, um, someone want to explain something to me?"

All eyes turned toward Kira when she held up the paper. "What do you mean by brainwashed?"

The elder rangers smiled. Obviously, the new team didn't do much in the way of martial arts tournaments. But Zack didn't want to answer that question now. The would wait until they were done with this. "We're going to go three rounds with everyone, best two out of three wins," he informed her. "Your objective is to score as many points as you can to win."

"Remember one thing when we do this," Tommy said, gesturing to the whole team. "We do this as an exhibition, which means when you fight, you make it a point to not physically hurt the person you're with. Some of us aren't as good at this as others." His eyes pointedly turned toward the teens.

"Hey, don't get mushy on us," Tori protested. "We can handle anything you can dish out."

Kira and Trent looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "Do you realize what you just said?" Trent asked. Tori nodded and looked at her teammates in confusion. "We're talking former rangers, some of whom were the best of the best, and you just told them we could hold our own with them. ARE YOU NUTS?"

Kira shook her head at them. "We'll do our best, but somehow I don't see us being able to win very many of these."

"Self doubt is the number one threat to being the best ranger you can be," a soft voice lilted as all eyes turned to stare at the newly returned Kimberly. "You don't have the luxury to doubt your decisions, because sometimes they have to be split second ones. Go with your instincts, trust your abilities and your teammates. As long as you do your best, that's all we can ask of you, and all you can ask from yourselves."

The three young rangers nodded and smiled at her. "So," Tori started, turning to look at Billy another moment. "Who's going first?"

12:00 P.M.

Tori gulped again as she faced the woman before her. Somehow, going through Ashley and Aisha had seemed like a breeze, as she had beaten both of them. Jen had been slightly harder, and Tori sighed at the thought that they'd been tied until that last match and she'd missed Jen's swift leg sweep, which had resulted in her landing on her rear end. Now she was facing Kimberly, and despite that next to Aisha, the woman wearing a pair of white short shorts and one of Dr. O's black shirts over her sports bra, had been without powers the longest, Tori had to admit she was getting her butt kicked. The first round had gone to her, but the second and a good portion of the third were Kim's.

"How the hell are you doing this?" Tori muttered when the brown eyed woman grinned at her, tossed herself forward in a walk over and managed to distract Tori enough that the younger girl was now flat on her back, again.

"Oh how does 'I was doing this when you were in grade school' sound?" Kim grinned as she thrust her hand out and helped Tori to her feet. "You ok?"

"Yeah."

Kim nodded, slung an arm around Tori's shoulders, and proceeded to go to the porch. Jason had finished all of his matches so he had started helping Zack score the others, which meant he was currently watch Tommy and Trent face one another. "Damn it, if they don't look hot without their shirts on," Kim muttered when Kira looked to who she was talking about. There was Dr. O, exchanging friendly blows with Trent, both of whom were wearing shorts, no shirts, and bantering back and forth as they focused on what they were doing.

Kira stared, wide eyed at Trent. She'd never seen him without his shirt, and the funny feeling curling in the pit of her stomach had her sighing in frustration. "Tell me about it," Kim muttered when she heard Kira's sigh. "You should have seen me at your age, watching Tommy do this on a day to day basis. Talk about sexual tension."

Kira laughed at that. She couldn't help it. She had to admit, Dr. O was kinda sexy, but she'd never thought of Conner like that, much less as a human being. He'd always acted like a wild animal when he was around her. "Does he know you like him?" The question was completely from left field. Kira blinked and turned her gaze to Kim's smiling face.

"I don't like...that is to say I've never..."

"Oh yeah, the girl has got it bad," Aisha quipped when she joined them. Ashley, Jen and Tori weren't far behind. Only Tommy and Trent were left of the matches, so the girls were taking time to appreciate the view.

"Too bad I'm almost old enough to be his mother," Jen quipped as the group started laughing. Kira stared at her incredulously. Kat has Jason, why would she be thinking of Conner like that? Kira thought to herself before the sound of someone dying of laughter caught her attention.

Ashley doubled over trying to catch her breath. "Not quite Jen!"

Meanwhile, the guys were focused on the two remaining fighters. "AH!" Trent yelled as Tommy performed a round house kick, knocking him back a few feet.

"Don't take your mind off the battle before you," Jason sagely informed the young White Ranger, who did a summersault and got back to his feet.

"It's kind hard when six beautiful, sweaty women are over there staring at me like I'm a piece of meat!" Trent shot back as Zack, Wes and Eric began laughing. "What's so funny?"

Zack cleared his throat after a minute, attempting to calm himself. "That's the WORST thing to start thinking while you're facing Tommy of all people."

"Dr. O isn't that bad," Trented a back hand, managing to grab Tommy and hip toss him to the ground.

Tommy grunted and shot back to his feet, his speed increasing with a bit of his anger. "Point for Trentam spoke before continuing. "You don't get it, do you?" he asked Conner, who jumped over the leg sweep Tommy had intended to use on him. "Tommy and Jason and Zack the three best rangers here. Granted, we all have our strong points, but all around they are the strongest. One tiny distraction is all it's going to take for them to kick your ass."

With that said, the group watched as Tommy managed to flip Trent over his shoulder and have him laying on the ground with a solid THUD. "TRENT!" Kira screeched when she saw him on the ground, Dr. O's foot in the middle of his back.

"Winner by TKO, Tommy 'The Good Doctor' Oliver," Zack announced as Tommy helped Trent off the ground as Kira rushed forward to get a better look at him.

Both rangers looked at her in surprise as she circled around Trent, checking for injuries. Tommy smiled while Trent looked at Kira like she'd grown a second head, or another pair of arms. "Kira, really, I'm fine, I just got my ass kicked by our teacher."

Realizing that she was showing what she wanted to hide, Kira's face immediately darkened as she looked up at him. "Too bad he didn't kick your ass more, you're still the same jerk you were when we started this." With that, she turned and fled to the sanctuary of the other girls.

"Smooth Romeo," Tommy muttered as he approached the porch, taking the towel that Kim offered him, grinning when Trent glared at him. "So what's the score Billy?"

Billy smiled, motioning for them to give him a minute. "For the girls, our best hopes are either Jen, Aisha, or Kim. As for us guys..." and with that he paused to look up at everyone giving him a 'hurry up' look. "It's between Tommy, Jason and Zack." Now that surprised the group a little. Zack had, according to today's showing, managed to beat all the guys, and all of the girls but Jen and Kim.

"Gosh, Zack," Tommy laughed as he slapped Zack on the back. "Didn't know you had it in you."

"Yeah, Tommy, but I got my backside handed to me by two former Pink Rangers."

**3:15 P.M.**

"Ok, so someone explain what exactly it is that Billy and Hayley have been doing for the past three hours?" Rocky grumbled as he plopped down on the couch next to Aisha. He was bored, he was tired, but most of all, despite that he'd eaten lunch an hour and a half ago, he was starving.

Jason and Ashley sat in Zack's recliner, shaking their heads at him. Outside, Jen, Wes, and Adam were helping Eric and Billy set up whatever it was they had been working on. Tommy, Kira and Trent were down in the lair, monitoring the city, and Kim and Zack were both sprawled out on the floor, talking quietly. "From what I got when I took their lunches out to them," Zack started, catching the others' attention. "Was that it's a simulation machine, that somehow, is going to give us make believe Sting Wingers to train against as soon as they get it running."

"Like we haven't been interrupted enough by those boneheads," Jason cracked, causing Aisha, Ashley and Kim to glare at him for the bad pun while Rocky and Zack laughed.

"Jason, your witty comments haven't gotten much better since we were all together last," Kim commented as Jason glared back at her. Jason was about to retort when Wes entered the house, his face lit with a smile.

All eyes turned toward the veteran Silver Guardian as he reached for the glass of water he'd left sitting on the end table near where Rocky sat and slugged it down. "We're done," he sighed, wiping his hand over his sweaty forehead. "Billy says you've got ten minutes to get ready."

"Guess that means I should go pry those three away from the computers, huh?" Kim murmured, pushing herself to her feet and heading down to the lair.

Slowly, the five ex rangers left in the room, pushed themselves to their feet and followed Zack and Billy outside. When they stepped onto the porch they watched as Adam, Wes and Tori fought against Billy's machine. "Sweet!" Zack cried as they watched the three.

For the next two hours, the rangers trained with the help of Billy's machine. At five thirty, Kat and Aisha headed inside to make dinner, saying that Kim and Tori had already done their fair share, and dragged Rocky, Adam and Eric in with them. As the sun started to set, Aisha, Jason, Zack, Kim and Billy went further out into the yard and began to stretch.

"What are they doing?" Trent questioned as he, Kira, and Eric sat down under the tree to watch the first rangers as they went through what looked like karate maneuvers.

"It's called a kata," Tommy murmured as they watched five of his best friends work through a fluid and graceful kata.

Kira looked from the elder rangers to Tommy and back before asking, "How come you're not out there with them?"

Tommy looked over at her and smiled sadly. "They learned this, from what Jason told me, as a way to build their teamwork during the first few months as rangers. I never really learned it, I guess, because I always felt like I was intruding on something special between them. We did eventually all learn one together."

"The only way I think I can describe this is," Trent started as his fellow rangers looked over at him. "Its beautiful, they way the move in complete harmony."

Tommy nodded. "Before long, the four of us will be use to each other's movements and what not. Maybe I'll even teach you guys a kata you can work on to do together."

"That'd be kinda cool," Jen murmured.

Kira had been silent for a while now, simply electing to watch her new friends as they moved as one. Her mind immediately picked up on why they worked so well as a team, and it wasn't just because they'd spent so much time as rangers.

They followed Jason, whose leadership skills were beyond anything. Even quiet as a mouse, Jason's presence screamed 'I am the leader'. Aisha's calm and serenity helped them focus on the task at hand. Zack's upbeat attitude helped distill their fears, while Billy's intelligence afforded them the reassurance that no problem was too great or too small. And then there was Kimberly. Kira had the feeling that the group had looked to her for her ability to help the others meld. She was like a magnet, drawing everyone to her, lavishing each person with the right attention to help them feel better about themselves.

'No wonder they all sort of group around her' Kira thought. Any other person would think automatically that Kim was the weakest of them, with her feminine attitude and girlish tendencies, and that the others saw it best to protect her but Kira knew better, just by watching them now. Kimberly was literally the heart of the team. 'Now I know why Aisha said Dr. O lost all his will to keep going after they split' she thought, turning her eyes to her teacher, who was currently allowing his gaze to linger over the woman he was so obviously in love with.

"Dr. Oliver," Jen spoke, catching Tommy, Kira and Wes's attention. The two former Time Force rangers knew what she was about to say so they nodded their approval to her. Tommy's eyebrow shot up at the seriousness of Jen's tone, as well as the fact that the younger male had used his full last name.

"Yes, Jen ?"

"We're going to protect them, no matter what," Jen told her fellow ranger. "We promise, we'll take care of them."

Tommy looked at her two teammates and felt a smile start to tilt his lips. If his friends only knew what these three young individuals had just promised, he knew they'd protest being able to take care of themselves, but truth be told, he was happy that her teammates and fellow rangers were going to help him protect their friends. "Thank you."

**Monday, 10:45 A.M.**

"Good morning!" Jen smiled as Kimberly walked into the kitchen. The brown haired girl grimaced at Jen's chipper attitude as she sunk into one of the chairs around the table. The house, Kim decided, was way too quiet for it to be good.

When Jen sat a cup of coffee in front of Kim, the former ranger smiled her thanks. After taking a tentative swallow, Kim sighed. "Where is everyone? It's so quiet this morning?"

"Let's see," Jen said, mentally trying to tally up the rangers and where they were. "Jason, Rocky, Adam and Eric went into town to work out for a couple of hours and possibly catch a movie. Aisha and Tori went with Billy to get some parts that Wes said he'd need for the new Cycles, and Tommy and Zack left for work around seven fifteen."

Kim nodded. "So, whatcha want to do today?" Kim asked as she took another swallow of her coffee.

"I want to rest, lounge, but I've got an errand to run." When Kim's eyebrows shot up in question, Jen continued. "Aisha packed Tommy lunch this morning, and the big defuss forgot it and some important papers. He called twenty minutes ago and I told him I'd bring them to him. Cab should be here soon."

"Mind if I come with?"

Jen smiled. "By all means, I'd enjoy the company."

Twenty minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of Reefside High School. Jen paid the driver and then she and Kimberly looked at the looming building. "Reminds me of the old Angel Grove High." Kat shook her head and laughed, threading an arm through Kimberly's as the pair made their way through the set of double doors and into the school.

"Can I help you?" the secretary behind the main counter in the office asked as Kim and Jen approached.

"Yes, we're here to deliver some important papers to Dr. Tommy Oliver," Jen smiled at the woman.

Nodding, the secretary handed the girls a clipboard and a pen. "I just need you to sign in, and I have to go get you permission from Principal Whitmore." With that, the woman scurried off to the back of the office while Kat and Jen signed in.

A few minutes later, the woman returned, and a man, dressed in a dark gray suit approached behind her. "Welcome to Reefside High School," the man spoke. "I'm Principal Whitmore."

"Jennifer Scotts and Kimberly Hart," Kim introduced the two of them. She couldn't help but stare at the principal. For some odd reason, the woman looked strikingly familiar. 'Well, it isn't Goldar, we took care of her a long time ago' Kim thought to herself as she continued to stare. Jen had taken the reigns and was animatedly speaking with the man.

"Please don't forget to sign out on your way out," Principal Whitmore spoke as he turned from the two girls, who were then given visitor's passes and instructions to Dr. Oliver's room.

Five minutes later, the two girls turned the last corner toward Tommy's room and were stopped short by what they found. Standing there was a group of Sting Wingers and McIntyre. "Who in the heck is that?" Jen questioned as she and Kim took battle ready stances.

"Don't know, but he's as ugly as Goldar and smells ten times worse," Kim wrinkled her nose at the minion in front of her.

"GET THEM!" McIntyre commanded as the drones rushed forward. Jen immediately side stepped as three of them came at her while Kimberly went into the splits to avoid getting nailed.

The girls finally recovered from the first onslaught of Wingers as their shock wore off, but both of them noticed something. The Wingers were targeting just Kim. "Kim!" Jen called as she watched her friend slip past the Wingers to face the mercenary that had been in command of them. "We meet at last, Pink Ranger!" McIntyre hissed as Kimberly let an eyebrow raise in interest.

"And just who told you I was the Pink Ranger, hmm?" Kim taunted as she and McIntyre circled one another.

"My master."

Kim smirked. How many times before had she heard THAT line? 'Too many to count, I'm afraid' she thought wryly to herself as McIntyre made his move, lunging at her. Immediately, she flipped over him, thanking god for the high ceilings in the hallway. As she twisted and landed, she saw McIntyre come at her again. Instincts and training a decade old kicked in as she parried each punch throne by her adversary.

"You are well trained, Pink Ranger, but not well enough!" With that, McIntyre fired an energy beam at Jen, causing Kim to cry out for her friend.

As the battle progressed, more and more students and teachers entered the hallway to see what was happening, including Tommy, Kira and Zack. "Guys!" Kira cried as she saw the blast knock Jen back into the arms of the Wingers. Tommy and Zack sprang forward, their minds numbing at the thought that one of their best friends was hurt. Kira, who had been in another room closer to Jen, jumped into the fray to check on her. "I'm fine, help Kim!" Jen yelled as she backhanded and roundhouse kicked three Wingers.

As Jen's comment registered, Tommy's gaze hit the combatants at the far end of the hallway from his room. There was Kim, and McIntyre. "Say goodbye to your precious pink friend!" McIntyre's voice and gaze was aimed at Tommy, who watched as the hulking young mercenary grabbed Kim's arm and disappeared through and invisi-portal.

"KIM!" Tommy and Zack screamed as they watched her disappear.

"My lady, the deed is done. McIntyre is bringing the former pink ranger to you now," the gray suited man spoke through the communication device sitting on the desk before him.

"A job well done, Edge. You've finally managed to do something right. Return immediately."

"Of course." The communication went silent, the device disappearing, as a knock of the door was heard. "ENTER!"

In filed Tommy, Jen, Kira and Zack. "Dr. Oliver, Dr. Taylor, to what do I owe this visit?"

"Principal Whitmore, I have to take a leave of absence, effective immediately," Tommy said first.

"Me too, Mr. Whitmore, this is a personal matter," Zack said.

Jason, Kira and Zack both looked ready to punch something. Tori and Aisha sat with Jen, nursing her bruises and some minor cuts from her battle with the Tyrano-drones. Trent, Rocky and Adam sat on the steps leading down from the upper part of the house in a state of numbed shock. Billy sat at the computers with Eric and Wes, attempting to figure out what had happened. Amidst all of the small conversations, Tommy sat in his chair, his face giving away every emotion he felt. 'Trakeena has Kimberly' he thought to himself, his heart shattering every time it tried to accept that fact.

"Shouldn't we be doing something more than standing here waiting for a ransom note?" Jason growled as he whirled around. His eyes instantly caught Tommy's face, his mouth shutting just as quickly. He knew the White Ranger was feeling guilty for what had happened at the High School, and Jason more than knew exactly how Tommy was feeling.

"Right now, the only thing to do is wait, and let Billy and Zack do what they can. The rest of us are pretty useless in that area," Aisha muttered as she finished placing a band-aid on Jen's arm. The brunette smiled her thanks before moving over to stand next to Tommy. She crouched down next to the chair where he sat, touching his arm to get his attention.

She felt her lips tremble when she saw the tears in his eyes. "I am so sorry," she whispered softly through her own tears. All of the other rangers immediately turned their attention to the pair. When Tommy turned a quizzical look in her direction, Jen continued. "I wasn't strong enough to get to her in time."

Tommy looked as though he'd been smacked by a Mac Truck as the meaning of her words washed over him. "You're sorry? Jen, you have nothing to be sorry about," Tommy's shocked voice spoke. "If anything, I should have reacted quicker when I heard the commotion in the hallway."

"Enough blaming yourselves, both of you," Wes scowled. "This is that THING'S fault, not yours."

"I think I can shed a little light on him for the rest of you, seeing as Tommy probably won't," Tori interrupted. The entire group focused their attention on her as she swiveled her chair to face them. "All we know about him is that his name is Drew McIntyre, and for some odd reason, since Trakeena has recruited top wrestlers to her little army and for some reason, Miller is behind all of this, he's been gunning for Tommy and Zack, purposely. We don't know his motives, or anything about him beyond the fact that Trakeena's been listening to this voice, she made those guys skilled warrior, and she's hell bent on revenge."

Zack started nodding his head, as though he was starting to understand something. "Which would explain, partially, why they took Kimberly. If they have done their homework, they know other than us, the best way to get to Tommy is through Kim. And one thing I'm realizing is that Miller was in on the take."

"I'm going to kill him, when I get my hands on him, I'm going to wring his scrawny neck," Tommy finally muttered, rage filling his entire being.

"Me too, bro, I'm gonna rip his freaking heart out. You can count on that," Zack chimed in, also filled with rage.

Adam jumped up from his seat then, and moved toward Tommy, who had stood and was about to start for the stairs. "Hang on Bros," Adam started, watching Tommy glare at him. "Remember what Zordon told us. Don't ever escalate a battle."

"He's got Kimberly, therefore I'm not escalating anything. I'm going to finish this once and for all." With that, Tommy pushed passed Adam and grabbed his blaster, Zack doing the sam, until two people standing at the top of the staircase ceased their movement.

"Tanya?" Zack asked.

"Kat?" Tommy did the same.

**Meanwhile**

When she opened her eyes, she knew she wasn't anywhere near Reefside anymore. The darkness of the room she was in scared her. When she tried to move, she found that her arms were chained to the walls. "Don't move so much, you'll hurt yourself," a voice that has an Jamaican accent whispered from somewhere to her left.

"Who's there?" she whispered through parched lips. Her head was starting to ache, a slow, dull throbbing that started at the base of her skull and behind her eyes.

"My name's Kofi, Kofi Kingston." As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noted that there was a dim light showing from under the door that allowed her to make out that she was not alone in the room. In fact, other than the man who had just spoken, there were at least three other people in the room. "What's your name?"

"Kimberly Hart," she spoke, closing her eyes and trying to use some of Trini's breathing techniques to calm herself down enough to get the headache to disappear.

"Kimberly? As in, Tommy Oliver's Kimberly?" a voice, this time decidedly male, questioned. Kim winced at the sound, but prepared to reply none-the-less.

Now that startled her. How would they know about her and Tommy unless they knew about... "Who are you?"

"John Morrison," the man spoke. Kim racked her brain for a face to go with the name. "I was friends with Zack and Tommy for a few years, but they've went their separate ways."

'My God!' Kim thought to herself. 'I am in a room full of wrestlers!'

"I see you're all getting acquainted," a new voice boomed as the door flew open. Kim squinted as she took her first look at the newcomer.

"YOU!"

"Yes me, Ms. Hart. Are your accommodations to your liking?" the figure asked, watching Kim glare at him while she smirked.

She glared. "No, actually, I could use a long hot bubble bath, some Swiss chocolates and possibly that nice king-size bed in Tommy's bedroom, but I don't think you're gonna be giving it to me."

"Such a sense of humor you have, my dearest ex Pink Ranger."

"Yeah, you know me, funniest thing on two legs," Kim sarcastically muttered to the figure.

"Be sure to watch that mouth of yours Ms. Hart, I'd hate to have to let McIntyre shut it for you, permanently."


	8. Let's Do Battle

A/N: After months of brainstorming, I've finally written up the eighth chapter! Enjoy this and more to come soon.

A/N: Please Read and Review, please.

Disclaimer: Power Rangers are property of Saban Brands, Inc. All WWE Programming, talent names, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves,trademarks, logos, and copyrights of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Rated T

When the door closed again, leaving Kimberly and the others alone, the former pink ranger had an idea. "Ok, I'm guessing that you guys are big time wrestlers. You guys want to tell me where we are?"

"That depends, who were you?" a voice shot back, this one a guy's voice, and it wasn't John.

"Kimberly Hart, Earth's first pink ranger," Kim growled, hearing the other's gasp.

"I can't believe you were one of the first rangers!" someone grumbled. Kim blinked as the voice carried to her.

"Excuse me, what's so hard to believe about me being a ranger, Mr.?"

"Hardy, Matt Hardy," the voice started. Kim laughed. Jason had told her all about the Hardys matches over the years.

"Oh, I've heard all about you," Kim quipped. "One of my best friends would just love to shove that attitude of yours down your throat."

There was a growl and the clanking of chains as Matt tried to move. "And which friend would that be?" This time, the voice was female, the tone icier than even Kim's own had been known to be.

"Jason Scott, original red ranger." The room went eerily silent.

There was a small amount of amused laughter coming from the opposite side of the room from where Kim was.

"Well, I vote if we get out of here," a distinctly amused male voice started. "We let Jason kick Matt's pampered butt."

"SHUT UP SHELTON!" the group raged.

Kim sighed. 'Amateurs!' she thought as she moved a hand slowly to the bridge of her nose, attempting to rub away the soreness there. "Ok, that's enough. Why don't we take a role call and you tell me who you are, where you're from, and how the heck you got here."

"I'm Christian, former ECW Champion. Um, John and I were sitting on the lobby of our hotel in Angel Grove one minute and being thrown into this cell the next."

Kim felt herself frown. That didn't sound good. "Ok."

Chains rattled as whoever was to Kim's left spoke up. "Evan Bourne. I was training in the gym on the outskirts of town when we were surrounded by these, things," he started. "Next thing we know, we're being tossed in here with the others."

"They're called Sting-Wingers," Kim filled them in.

"Well, I was at the arena and next thing i know, I'm being surrounded by a bunch of goons," a younger male spoke. "By the way, I'm Shelton Benjamin, 'The Gold Standard.' You've probably heard of me over the years."

'That explains it' Kim thought of the tone of Shelton's voice. Shelton once beat Triple H and is known for his upset.

"Randy Orton and Natalya, she's part of the Hart Dynasty and I'm basically on my own." Natalya informed Kimberly as she turned her head in his general direction, even though she doubted he could see the movement. "We were on a scouting mission. We fell through a hole and the next thing we know, we wake up chained to the wall in here."

One of the fellas sighed softly. "Guess that leaves me and R-Truth. I'm Maria. I;more the bubbly type."

"R-Truth's the name, miss. Rappin' is my game. I'm on my way to the recording studio and the next thing I knew these beast came right at me. I have no clue how Maria and I ended up here, but it couldn't have been good."

'Dang!' Kim thought, quickly tallying up the rangers and teams. "Well, it appears we've got people from every ranger team here. What the heck is Trakeena up to?" Kimberly muttered, unintentionally, out loud.

"What's with this gal?" John questioned her.

Kim sighed. 'I hope I remember everything Tommy and Zack told me last night' she thought. "Her name is Trakeena," she started. "When she first came to this world she wanted nothing more than to conquer it."

"Wow," Shelton started.

"Yeah. Since then, Zack and Tommy formed their own unit of Power Rangers using Rangers from different teams." Kim smiled,

Someone laughed. Turning her head, Kim caught it coming from where T.J. was sitting. "Trying to cover all the color bases, is he?"

Kim smiled. "Tell me about it. First green, then white, red and now black. I figure it's blue or yellow next," Kim quipped, drawing laughter from the guys and a round of giggles from the girls.

Randy's soft question sobered the group suddenly. "Do you think we'll ever get out of here?"

Kim sighed, her mind running over the events of her capture. "I was with Jennifer Scotts when I was taken, bets are the others know I'm missing by now."

"Others?" R-Truth questioned.

"Dr. Leonard Miller invited all the rangers to join him for a thing called Ranger Games. Tanya and Kat were supposed to be in here, and we were supposed to compete against Trakeena's henchmen to get them back, but obviously that wasn't the truth."

A frustrated sigh was followed by Christian's soothing, low whisper. "So what exactly does that mean?" Matt questioned from her spot.

"What it means is that Jason, Zack, Billy, Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Tanya, Kat, Tommy and the new rangers are still out there. It means we just may have a chance at being rescued."

"Well, when we do get rescued, it'll be a ranger family reunion!" Shelton quipped as the others groaned. The events of the day started wearing on the captive wrestlers, causing each of them to start to slip into an exhausted sleep.

'Tommy, where are you?' Kim thought, her eyes clenching closed in fear. She could only imagine what he was thinking or doing at the moment. 'He is probably freaking out!' her mind shouted at her. As she started to slip into sleep, her memories took her back to the night before. She'd fallen asleep on the couch and then had woken up in Tommy's bedroom, plastered to his side. She had lain there for nearly two hours, simply watching him and letting the fact that they were back together finally sink in. "Tommy," Kim murmured sleepily as her body went limp.

Meanwhile...

"This is ridiculous, I should have know Kim was captured by Trakeena and Miller," Zack said to Tommy as they were in the lab. They were taking a five minute break in their search for Kimberly, and he thought now was a good time to bring up his guilt over the incident.

For a moment, Tommy said nothing, his attention focused on the computer screen before him. "I guess so," he whispered, turning to face Zack. "My mind keeps playing back Sunday morning."

Zack nodded. He'd heard from Kira and Jen about the talk Tommy and Kim had had under the tree. "Tommy, you can't keep beating yourself up over that. You were right, you two don't need to jump into something that deep as fast as you did, you've both been hurt and you both need time to come around."

Tommy simply stared at his friend. He knew him for along time, and sometimes he knew him better. "I know, buddy, but she didn't even come to bed on her own," Tommy sighed. "I had to carry her upstairs when I found her sound asleep in the recliner when I came down to check on everything."

"And have you thought that maybe she just fell asleep watching the movie with the others?" Tommy glared at him.

Before either of them had a chance to retort, the alarm was blaring in warning. "Miller's goons are here!" Jason hollered down the stairs.

"Dr. Miller sent me to bring you to his compound," Alexi started as Tommy walked out onto the porch. He'd made everyone stay inside while he, Zack and Jason went to see what Miller's driver wanted.

Kat looked a bit confused. "I don't understand," she mumbled.

Tommy understood exactly what Alexi was talking about. Standing there, at the center of the ranger group, he spoke the words he'd used some years before when they'd had to face one of their biggest challenges. "It's time."

Zack chimed in, considering he will battle one of Trakeena's goons. "Yeah, we're gonna kick the living snot out of Trakeena and Miller now."

"Wakie, wakie!" a voice screeched as the room of captive rangers was startled awake. The first thing they noticed was that the lights were on, the second thing they noticed was that Trakeena was towering over Kimberly, who was still slightly asleep and leaning against the wall behind her.

"Well, if it isn't the Bug-Eyed Chick," Christian commented. Kim chocked on her laughter at his description of Trakeena when said 'Chick' grabbed here limp brown hair tightly.

Trakeena glared at Kim before glaring over at Christian. "Now, now, Christian," she spoke, her voice sickeningly sweet. "I'd keep my mouth shut, if I were you."

"Yeah, but you're not me," Christian pointed out, a sarcastic smile taunting Trakeena.

Trakeena raised an eyebrow at him, teasing him with a, "You know, Christian, I'd hate for Dr. Oliver to be mad at you for getting Kimberly hurt." Her smile was one of pure victory as all of Christian's color drained right out of his face. It wasn't just that fact that he'd be facing an angry Tommy or an vicious Zack, it was that they could really hurt Kimberly, and for some reason, the original pink ranger had grown on him in their hours together.

"That's what I thought." Turning, Trakeena motioned for the Sting-Wingers that had come in with her to unchain Kimberly and take her from the room. "My master requests your presence." With that, the Drones hauled a struggling Kimberly out of the room, while the rest of the rangers protested.

When the door slammed shut, the room went dark again. "You know, if what Kim said was true, we're not going to have to face only Tommy," Kofi growled, trying to pull the chains he was in from the wall.

"Yeah, we really don't need to face a group of angry ex-rangers if something happens to their friend," Randy huffed as he tried vainly, yet again, to free himself. "This sucks major ass. We're supposed to be members of one of the most popular wrestling companies in the universe and we can't even break the chains holding us."

Natalya rolled her eyes at a struggling Randy Orton. "You never learn, do you?" she asked suddenly, knowing she had everyone's, especially Randy's, attention. "Some of us have been handling business for years. If we stayed that strong afterward, do you think Kim of all people would be in this mess with us?"

"Natalya has a point," John agreed.

"Man I hope they rescue us soon," R-Truth said.

The Miller Compound\

"Welcome to the Miller Coliseum," Miller announced as the group emerged from the limos, finding themselves standing in front of what was a mini stadium. Warily, the group eyed the stadium, then Miller, then each other. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you the locker rooms and give you a run down of your competitions."

Meanwhile...

"Champ, it's me, the Deadman," Undertaker said on Zack's power speaker.

"Big man, how are you doing?" the voice of John Cena, who was kidnapped by Miratrix until the Rangers rescued him, said.

"Zack's out on business, but I think you and I take care of business of our own."

"You mean..."

"Zack's got another Exosuit in Reefside, we gotta retrieve it," 'Taker said. "It's our only way to rescue our comrades as well as punish those who helped Trakeena."

"I'm in."

The Chamber of Darkness

"Welcome to my home, Ms. Hart." The voice was so smooth and chilling that it sent shivers down Kim's spine. She'd never heard a voice sound quite like that before.

"You must be big, bad Lord Angyr." Kim trembled as the man, correction, Dinosaur, walked into the light.

With an infuriating tone, he replied. "I've been called many names." Just by his stance, the way he spoke to her, Kim knew immediately that she'd met this person before.

Lord Angyr watched her, saw the startled surprise on her face and in her eyes, and smiled. "Yes Ms. Hart, I am he, and he is me." Kim simply growled. "You aren't as stupid as that pink spandex makes you appear."

"Yeah, well, it's been eight years since I wore pink spandex in the capacity you're talking about," Kim fired back. She had the sick feeling this was turning into a twisted game of cat and mouse.

He smiled, or did something as near that as he could. "What if I could offer you a chance at putting your beloved color on again?" Lord Angyr asked as Kim's brow furrowed in confusion.

"And just why would I want to do that? But more importantly," Kim snapped at him. He watched her, and was reminded of the way Dr. Oliver had acted the last time he'd been in this same room. "Why would you offer me that chance?"

"Come now, Ms. Hart," he started as he circled the table she was tied down to. "You are but the heart of the team." At the use of the bad pun of her name, Kim tried to wrench free of the restraints that were holding her. "Don't you want to save your friends?"

Her eyebrow shot up in suspicion. "Of course, but what do you get out of this?"

"The Original Ranger powers."

Kim blinked. 'DUH!' her mind screamed. 'If he really is you know who, he wants you for his champion. "Sorry, but I don't think my thighs will look too good in pink spandex again," Kim retorted after recovering from her shock. "It was a completely different story when I was seventeen."

"It does not matter to me, Ms. Hart," Lord Angyr hissed. "One way or another, your friends will fail and your love and his teamnates will forfeit their powers, and their lives." With that, he swept from the room in a flurry of Sting Wingers and black leather.

Kim tried to swallow the lump of fear in her throat. She really didn't like the sound of that. 'Somebody help!' she meekly thought.

The group was sitting in chairs waiting for Miller to come back. He'd shown them to the locker rooms and told them to get ready before he'd disappeared. Of course, that had been nearly two hours before. "Tommy, I don't like this," Zack complained as Tommy nodded.

"Neither do I, Bro, but we've got to deal with it."

Tori sighed and stood up from her place next to Jen, walking towards Tommy like a woman with a great weight on her mind. "Do we even know who has Kim? And do we even know if this guy, or guys, has more of our friends? No, we don't," Tori started, whirling around to face the others. Tommy watched her. Tori tended to get really nervous when she was scared. "We don't know if anything they say is true."

"Are you willing to risk your beloved Crane's life on that, my dear?" All eyes turned toward where Miller stood in the doorway to the locker room. "If you'll follow me, we'll go into the arena and you can begin your competition."

Reluctantly, the group followed him through the maze of corridors to the open field. In the center, what looked like a maze was set up. "Your first test is that of hand to hand combat versus your fellow rangers."

The group looked shell-shocked. They had expected that to be the only competition, then the best of them would face Mercer's champion. "Things like this are never that simple," Wes sighed as the others nodded in agreement.

"Right you are, Mr. Collins. Two of you will be eliminated from this round and the rest will proceed." As one, the group nodded.

"Good, then my assistant, Ms. Lowe, will watch over you," Miller spoke as the woman, who looked like the old saying 'Built Like A House' come true, stepped onto the field. "I wouldn't give her any problem, she's more than capable of snapping your necks." With that, Miller exited the field, leaving the rangers gaping at his retreating figure.

"Chop Chop, boys and girls!"

"It's gonna be one long day," Zack said.

TBC...


	9. The Identity

A/N: Please Read and Review, please.

Disclaimer: Power Rangers are property of Saban Brands, Inc. All WWE Programming, talent names, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves,trademarks, logos, and copyrights of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Rated T

While the other Rangers were in training, John and 'Taker took the Hummer to the Taylor house in Reefside to retrieve the second Exosuit which Zack had already completed.

"Taker, think this is gonna work?" John called as their pair slid the brakes to a dead stop.

"It has to," Taker muttered, his mind replaying the look on Tommy's face as he and the others related the events of the passed weekend to he and John upon their arrival.

John gasped. "Show time," he mumbled as Taker blinked away the memories. 'Taker took a good look at his colleague and smiled under his helmet. After the Miratrix incident, John Cena became stronger than he was, since that day. He now knows the threat of these reincarnated villains of the Rangers past and was willing to help.

Both men powered up their bikes as they saw Jericho and a group of Sting-Wingers appear from an invisi-portal. Taking a deep breath, the two surged forward. "John, don't engage them unless we have to! Our priority is getting to that portal!"

"Gotcha!" John hollered back as he and Taker split up, him going to the right around the group and John going left. They managed to get passed the Sting-Wingers and only had Jericho to contend with to get to the portal.

These men knew that their time as allies with the Rangers afforded them the split second knowledge of what the other was blaster beams were fired at each Sting Wingers feet, knocking him back, as the two men raced passed him and into the portal, which promptly closed behind them.

The alarm blaring was the rangers' first indication that someone knew they were out of their cell. Their second was the shouting that could be heard just ahead of them as they all crept down the darkened hallway. "Say, John, those are the bug goons we faced earlier," Taker muttered as he and John peered around the corner, spotting Sting Wingers to search for the group.

"Yeah, and he's headed this way. How many of you guys can handle these punks?" Taker pointedly asked the other wrestlers, his mind moving a mile a minute to formulate a plan. 'This is more Billy's area of expertise, but hey, I can do this' he thought as several of the other wrestlers raised their hands. Not all of them can handle the Sting Wingers.

John's thoughts were scattered the second the creepy voice infiltrated his head. "Well, well, what do we have here?" Sheamus boomed as he watched the group of rangers start to inch their way back down the hall.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the smooth voice hissed, causing the rangers to whirl around, only to come face to face with Lord Angyr.

John's eyes went wide, as did Natalya's. Shelton and Christian merely stared, while R-Truth and Morrison growled. Maria and Randy both gulped. Matt dropped into his defensive stance. Taker snarled at this creature, with his hate for monsters like him. "Where's Kimberly?" Taker hissed at Lord Angyr.

Lord Angyr merely smiled at him. "Safe. Whether she remains that way is solely up to you." The group's shoulders suddenly dropped. He had them right where he wanted them. "If you'll follow me, you'll see exactly what I've been doing with your friend."

Reluctantly, the group resolved themselves to following him to find Kim.

**Meanwhile, the Miller Coliseum...**

Back at the arena, the group of friends reluctantly looked over the match board that Ms. Lowe had with her. They would compete against everyone present in a best two of three set. All of the matches were fascinating to watch, but the competition of hand to hand took all day. However, there were a few memorable moments.

One of the biggest upsets of the competition came as Aisha and Rocky were facing one another. Rocky had won the first match, and Aisha had taken him in the second, but it was the third that surprised the others.

"Come on Rocky!" Zack cheered as Billy and Adam shot him glances. The pair had already finished their match, with Adam winning, so they'd been put in charge of scoring Rocky and Aisha's.

Tommy watched on with a sense of mirth as Aisha evaded Rocky's every attack. 'She still remembers all our training as Ninjetti' he thought as her movements took him back to when they'd first had that power. However, he could also see why Rocky was getting his butt kicked. The former red and blue ranger kept taunting his yellow counterpart, so much so that Aisha, from the look Tommy saw on her face, was determined to beat Rocky at his own game.

"WHOA!" Adam gasped as he, Tommy, Billy and Zack winced when Aisha pinned Rocky's ass to the ground.

"Point for Aisha, who wins by the way," Billy tried to contain his laughter at the former red and blue ranger, who was currently sitting under one hundred and ten pounds of solid, skilled Aisha, who couldn't keep a grin off her face. He failed. Billy bent over, laughing until he was red in the face. Adam and Zack both bit their lips as they watched Rocky looking up at his girlfriend.

Rocky felt like crawling in a deep, dark hole to hide from the smile Aisha was giving him. It had been a long time since she'd wiped the floor with him; in fact, the last time she'd actually done it had been right before Kimberly had left the team, when she and Kim had been trying to prove a point to him and the others. "Damn Sha, couldn't you leave the man a little more pride?" Jason quipped as Aisha turned to glare at him.

"That's what he gets for thinking his girlfriend is a wimp. He forgot I trained just like him before we joined the team," Aisha grinned as she sat on Rocky's stomach and looked down at him. Her glare was enough to have the former red ranger wincing. "And that I continued with that training after joining said team. Just because I've spent the last seven years as a civilian, doesn't mean that I've lost what I learned."

Adam shook his head. "Man, Rocky, got your ass kicked by a girl, and not just any girl, your best friend and girlfriend to boot." With that, all of the girls turned to glare at the former black and green ranger. "Not that that's a bad thing."

"Adam, stop while you're ahead," Wes sagely gave his colleague advice. "Trust me, any more and you'll be eating your shoe for dinner." Adam nodded, and then the group broke off into more pairs to finish the matches.

As expected, Tommy and Jason's match was one the entire team stopped to watch. Jen, Kira and Ethan had never see anyone who could match Dr. O blow for blow, not until Jason. The pair moved in perfect sync, each able, even after being away from each other for so long, to counteract and predict the other's move. At the end of three matches, it was determined that the pair shared the only tie of the day.

By the end of the day, the standings were thus: Tori 2 wins 9 losses; Kira 5 wins 6 losses; Wes 3 wins 8 losses; Tommy 10 wins, 0 losses, 1 tie; Jason 9 wins, 1 loss, 1 tie; Rocky 9 wins 2 loses; Zack 8 wins 3 losses; Aisha 7 wins 4 losses; Jen 5 wins 6 losses; Billy 4 wins 7 losses, Trent 2 wins 9 losses.

As Ms. Lowe was going over the scores, both Tommy and Jason frowned as they got a look at the last two. They'd expected both Trent and Tori to better than that. Without really thinking, the two ex leaders went off to speak to their teammates, Jason choosing Trent and Tommy choosing Tori.

"Want to talk about it?" Tommy asked as he sat down on the bench next to Tori, who had her face buried in her hands. Her shoulders shook slightly. Tommy leaned over and ran a soothing hand down her back, knowing she needed time to compose herself.

"I did so great the other day," she started, turning to look at him. His face showed his surprise that she was crying, eyes red and water trails spanning her cheeks. "I just couldn't concentrate today. It's not like I didn't know what I was doing; I know how to fight, I know what I'm capable of. But all I kept seeing was one of my best friends getting kidnapped by an ugly goon."

Tommy's features softened as he pulled her to him, hugging her tightly. While they had parted many years before on amicable terms, he still cared deeply for her, and would even venture to say he loved her, as much as anyone could love someone who was just like a sister. 'Yeah, sister, right. This is coming from a guy who dated her' he thought. It was ironic he'd use that term with Kat, when so many years before something similar had been said of him in regards to Kimberly. However, his mind reasoned, he and Tori, while they had been teammates so many times, had never been truly close. He'd been too wrapped up in his own problems with Kim and the team, and Tori herself had been just as reserved when they were together. "I'm going to get eliminated, aren't I?" she asked a few moments later as she watched Jason across the field talking to an angry Trent.

Tommy wanted to lie to her, but when she looked up at him with THAT look in her eyes, he knew he couldn't. "More than likely, it's gonna be you and Trent, who knows how many of the others. Miller isn't exactly playing by the rules anymore."

Torit nodded, settling back onto the shoulder of her 'brother'. 'That's a funny term to give him, since he was the veteran of the original Rangers, Tori thought ironically. 'But somehow, that term fits him better in regards to me then buddy ever did'. "That's alright. I just wish there was more I could do to help you guys get them, HER, back," she muttered as Tommy hugged her again.

"You're doing more than enough. Stop worrying." Suddenly, the pair was beckoned to where the others were gathering.

"Well?" Tori asked, wiping the tears from her eyes as she and Tommy joined the group circled around the newly arrived Miller.

"Ms. Hanson and Mr. Fernandez have been eliminated from the next competition. They will be allowed to stay, but they will not be allowed to interfere, is that understood?" The two nodded. Tori shot Tommy a look. They were both wondering how exactly Tori had managed to scrap by in not getting counted out. "Good, now, I've had a feast prepared for you in the common room, and then my staff shall show you to your rooms." With that, Miller turned and began walking out of the room, the Rangers reluctantly following. Jen and Billy slung their arms around a depressed Trent, while Wes did the same with Tori who currently had Kira hanging off her arm, and Jason slung his arm around an hurt Zack, quietly asking what he thought of the situation. Aisha and Rocky were also sharing a private conversation as they followed the group, arms wrapped around each other's waists. Only Adam and Tommy remained a few moments later.

Tommy titled his head to the side, watching Zack, whose eyes were heavenward, staring up through the skylights in the arena to the stars beyond. "You ok?" Zack asked.

Tommy didn't answer. Truthfully, he didn't have an answer. Tearing his gaze from the sky, he looked over at Adam, hoping to convey what he was feeling. "I know how you feel Tommy. You're empty without her; I'm the same way when I don't have Trini anymore, which is most of the time. However, I can only imagine how tough it's been for you these last eight years. You've probably had that feeling that entire time."

Tommy nodded. Zack understood him more than he thought his friend would or could. "She's my other half, Zack, she has been since the moment I laid eyes on her," Tommy whispered. Zack had heard the story from Billy when he, Aisha and Rocky had first joined the team. They'd been talking about the adventures of the original team, while watching Tommy show Kim a meditation exercise in the Youth Center, and the story of how the pair had come to be a couple had come out. "I ache so much right now, not having her by my side when I spent the better part of the weekend having her there. And I'm afraid - afraid I'm not strong enough to save her, afraid I'm going to fail you guys, afraid of what Miller and Trakeena's combined will do to those I hold dear."

"Tommy," Zack started, as the pair turned and walked into the bowels of the arena. "As Rangers, we dealt with those fears on a daily basis. As an active Ranger, you still do. You can't honestly tell me it's a new feeling for you."

Tommy shook his head as the two followed the voices of their friends. As they walked through the doors of the locker room to start showering and changing, he answered. "No, but this time it's more powerful, more urgent, then it's ever been."

**Meanwhile in the Chamber of Darkness...**

The group entered the semi lit room single file. There was a table set up in the middle where Sting Wingers hovered over whatever was on it. Near the control panel, was Trakeena, typing in some sort of command into the keyboard. Lord Angyr let Jericho watch over the rangers as he moved toward the table. "Ms. Hart, I believe you have some guests." At the sound of his voice, the Sting Wingers immediately moved away from the table, revealing a tied down Kimberly, who struggled to get free.

"Guys!" she cried out. The others weren't sure if she was surprised or happy that they were in the room. "LET ME GO!" she yelled as she attempted to free herself.

Lord Angyr smiled. "Now, now, Ms. Hart, your friends are here to watch the show," he informed her, watching as she glared at him. For a moment, he hesitated, a feeling of relief that she was tied to the table flashing through him. 'If she was able, she would try to tear you apart' he thought, and then smiled. 'Not that that wouldn't be interesting, but she has no clue how fast I could kill her if I wanted'.

"Kim," 'Taker and John called to their struggling friend, hoping their voices would calm Kimberly down.

The former pink ranger looked up at the morphed rangers and blinked. "'Taker? John?" she asked, her hope soaring a bit.

"Just calm down Kim, struggling isn't going to do any good right now," John murmured. It had been a long time since he'd seen the woman who held his friend's heart. "The others are still out there, they'll get us out."

Lord Angyr, Trakeena and Jericho's laughter made the others wince. "You think you're pathetic friends can save you from my master?" Jericho asked, amusement clearly evident.

"Trakeena, is it ready?" Lord Angyr asked as the woman nodded, a dark smile playing across her features. "Good, then begin."

The Rangers watched in shock as the laser that was pointed at the table where Kim lay began to glow. "NO!" the group cried out, shaking off the restraining hands of the Sting Wingers. John and 'Taker dove for Kimberly, while the others engaged the Sting Wingers. Jericho and Trakeena jumped forward, blocking the two wrestlers from getting far.

"Get out of my way!" 'Taker growled as he parried and threw punches at Jericho.

Jericho merely laughed. "Not until my master's plan is set into motion. You will join your friend when this is all over."

John had a strict rule about hitting girls, he didn't. You never, ever hit a girl. Heck, even sparing with Maria and Natalya all those years ago he'd not wanted to do so. However, there were times, like now, when he made an exception to the rules. Instead of firing back his own punches at Trakeena, he merely deflected hers and attempted to subdue her by more peaceful means. Trakeena had other plans, as she tried to kill John's honor and get him to hit her back. "You're too much like that pathetic Tommy for your own good," Trakeena spat at Justin.

"You know what, I don't have time for this, my friend needs me." With that, John did a super leap over Trakeena, his hands on her shoulders, and landed behind her. He then gave her a slight push, knocking her off balance and into Jericho, causing the two to tumble to the floor in a pile of arms and legs.

"KIM!" 'Taker called as he and John surged forward. Even with the speed they drew from the Exosuits, they were too late to stop Lord Angyr.

The laser's energy beam had engulfed Kimberly's entire body, causing her to glow a dull pink. "Let her go, Dino-trash!" John growled. He and Taker watched as Lord Angyr stood off to the side, smirking at them.

"And now, the final preparations of my plan have been completed!" Lord Angyr called as the group, having defeated the Sting Wingers, watched the restraints that had held Kim to the table snap, the former Pink Ranger's body levitating.

"Oh my god," Shelton muttered as the group watched Kim's body go vertical. The look on her face, as the pink glow stopped, was one of pure serenity. "Kimberly?"

When Kim's eyes snapped open, both 'Taker and John shuttered. They'd only seen that look on her face once before, when they read about the Turbo Rangers' battle with Divatox several years ago. "Dear god, not again," 'Taker prayed as John shook his head.

"Look what we have here?" Kim's voice was laced with every emotion that she'd fought against as a Power Ranger - hate, anger, rage. "Pesky power brats."

"Allow me to introduce to you, my champion," Lord Angyr murmured delightfully as Kimberly's feet touched the ground. Her civilian clothes were gone, in their place a black and pink replica of Zack's homemade Exosuits.

"Oh no, Kim," Maria whispered as the group watched the former Ranger stand with Lord Angyr in front of them.

The dark Ranger sneered at them. While her body was not under her control, her mind was clear of what was happening. 'Not again!' she whined to herself. The last time she'd been turned to the dark side had been on the mission that had led the Zeo Rangers to their Turbo powers. 'What is it with you jumping ship Kim' she scolded herself, wrestling with the spell she was under to get control of her body, to no avail. 'Zordon chose you all those years ago for the heart of goodness you had, how the hell did this happen AGAIN?' she mentally screamed at herself. Her physical body, however, was paying no mind to the inner turmoil. "Oh yes, young lady," she muttered to the younger girl, watching as a mask fell over Maria's serene face. The younger girl closed herself off.

'Best not to let her know her words hurt' Maria thought to herself. As she took a mental step back from the goings on, her eyes and her thoughts immediately turned to John and Taker. Both of them stood with their shoulders slumped, showing their disbelief at what had happened to their friend. Maria wanted nothing more than to comfort her friends, but knew now was not the time to do so.

Maria watched on in shock as Lord Angyr stepped forward, touched Taker and John who were protesting his actions, and watched as the the two men de-morphed. Lord Angyr then reached down and tried to wrench off their morphers, but to no avail. "You can't touch our morphers to the exosuits, it's bonded temporarily for the time being," Taker said told him as he and John watched as Jericho, Trakeena and the Sting Wingers made swift work of shackling the wrestlers again, the Undertaker and John Cena will not join them, considering they have a contact with a certain Power Ranger. "We wouldn't want my team to get away, now would we?"

"Team? You think we're gonna work for you?" Matt questioned as Jericho grabbed him by his shirt collar, holding him still as Lord Angyr flew forward, getting in the former ECW Champion's face.

"If you don't want to watch your friends die, you will cooperate."

"Like hell we will," Taker suddenly roared, elbowing Trakeena in the stomach and wrenching himself free of the shackles. The others followed his lead, causing yet again havoc in the room. Knowing that he and John needed to get the others to safety, both of them jumped forward, snatching the morphers away from a shocked and confused Lord Angyr. While the others caused a distraction, they morphed Knowing full well they might battle two machines, John and the Undertaker, the Sting Wingers, Trakeena and Jericho were soon running from the room, leaving Lord Angyr and Kimberly to face the group.

"We have to get back to the others," John spoke as Taker nodded. He really didn't want to leave without Kimberly, but staying any longer was endangering those Wrestlers. "Deadman?"

Shaking his head, Taker started to back away from Lord Angyr and Kim. "Retreat," he whispered through the snarling lips as Kimberly and Lord Angyr smiled, then lunged at the back pedaling Rangers.

As soon as Taker and John had backed out of the room, Shelton hit the switch next to the door that he'd found. The doors instantly closed and locked. The group stood there for a moment, then followed as Taker and John led them back toward where the cycles were waiting. "Kat, this is John, do you read?"

"Go ahead John."

"We've got some problems, I'll explain later, but right now, I need you to help me and Taker open a portal back." John rounded a series of corners following Taker, all the while trying to figure out just how the group was about to get out of the den of evil that was the Island Fortress.

Kat was silent. She could only imagine what kind of trouble had come up, but decided not to question John on it until he and Taker and whoever was with them were safe and sound back at the lair. "There's one open near the cycles. All you have to do is go through."

"Thanks. See you in a few, I hope," John finished as the group rounded the last corner, seeing the two cycles ahead in front of the invisi-portal. "You guys go through, we'll follow you," Taker commanded as the group jumped through. He and Taker hopped on the Raptor cycles and then went through, seconds before Lord Angyr and Kimberly burst around the corner.

"Go ahead Kat," Tommy spoke when the beeping of his communicator.

"Tommy, we've got some problems, big problems," Kat started. The tone of her voice set off Tommy's internal warning bells.

Shooting a glance over at Zack, he wet his lips before replying, "What kind of problems?"

"Lord Angyr's got Kimberly still," a new voice, distinctively Taker's, spoke. Zack watched as Tommy went pale.

"What else?"

"Now we know the dark side of Lord Angyr; He's Lord Angyr and Leonard Miller all rolled in one.:

"That snake," Zack snarled. "You were right about him, Tommy. We all have a new reason to rip his head off."

There was a long pause as Taker, Kat, and whoever else was there tried to think of a way to tell Tommy what had happened. "Tommy, Zack," John spoke, his voice broken. "He's turned her against us."

**Meanwhile...**

"Miller is Lord Angyr? Even I have a hard time remembering that," Eric said after John and Taker made a startling discovery.

"Yeah- put that in your frame of your mind," John said. "Miller is Lord Angyr. Like Anton Mercer was Mesogog when they separated.

Taker looked at Tommy apologetically. "I'm sorry we didn't get to you guys in time about that piece of information. He has Kim, and now using her as well as our own guys against us."

"That bastard," Tommy said.

"Yeah, but how can we turn Kim back to normal? I mean it's easy if you have the right equipment."

"Afraid not, bud," Taker said. "But don't give up. we'll hold them off."

But as soon as they were finished with their conversation, Zack, Tommy, Jason, Adam, Jen, Wes, Eric, Tori, Kira, Taker and John were teleported on a strange Island.

"Welcome to Darkness Island," Miller announced as the seven of them found themselves in one of the many rooms. Tommy gasped. He'd been stuck in this room right before the Black Dino Gem had bonded with him.

"Where's Kimberly!" Zack fiercely demanded as Miller strode forward and then turned to face them. They watched on in shock as his body started to shake. Before their very eyes, Dr. Leonard Miller changed from human to dinosaur, becoming the evil villain, Lord Angyr.

The nine gasped. "Oh crud!" Jason muttered as Adam swallowed hard. Jen stared on in shock, while Taker muttered under his breath. Kira's eyes were narrowed as she glared at the black clad figure. And all the while, Tommy and Zack stared on in complete and utter shock. He hadn't seen that one coming.

"So you have returned?" a dark voice called a few moments later when the doors to the room slid open and Jericho, dressed as the White Ranger stepped through.

"Ah! Rangers, meet one of my champions. Meet my White Ranger."

Jen rolled her eyes when Adam cracked, "I liked Tommy's suit as White Ranger better."

John shook his head, as did Jason. "Only you, Adam," Kira spoke.

"What do you mean by Champions? I thought we only had to face one person?" Taker growled.

Lord Angyr smiled. "Champions, Deadman, champions. Allow me to introduce you to my other champion." As Lord Angyr's words rang out, the wall to the left of the group grumbled and groaned as it slid up, joining the room they were in with the one next to it. Standing in the other room, decked out in the black and pink Exosuit was Kim.

"Kim," Tommy whispered.

TBC...


	10. The Last Battle

A/N: Please Read and Review, please.

Disclaimer: Power Rangers are property of Saban Brands, Inc. All WWE Programming, talent names, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves,trademarks, logos, and copyrights of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

Rated T

The group of eleven friends stared at the Pink Ranger in shock. None of them had had the opportunity yet to see what Lord Angyr had done to their friend, but now the results were staring them in the face. Kim was back in uniform, but this time she was on Lord Angyr's side. "Kim?" Jen sputtered as she stared at her new friend in shock. She could see, even through the tint of the visor, that it was indeed Kimberly in that suit.

"Welcome Rangers," the Pink Ranger spoke, her voice devoid of emotion. Zack shook his head, lowering his gaze to the floor as angry tears burned his eyes, his thoughts on how this shouldn't have ever happened to Kim after Murianthias. Jason pinched the bridge of his nose with his right thumb and forefinger, hoping to ward of the inevitable headache. Adam's lips were pursed, his eyes wide, and his voice silent, wondering exactly how they were going to save their friend. Tori's mouth hung open; the Blue Wind Ninja Ranger couldn't quite grasp the fact that one of her friends was now working for the enemy. John, Wes, Eric and Kira all stood there snarling at the fact that on of their own sold their soul to the devil himself. And of all of them, it was Tommy who stood there, his face shining. He didn't care that Kim was against them at the moment; all he cared about was that she was safe, alive, and not laying in some chamber around here, dead.

"Beautiful," Tommy's voice was soft, tender, and full of love. Lord Angyr, Trakeena and his army of wrestlers stood off to the side and laughed as Tommy attempted to connect with the Pink Ranger.

"Oh God, Beautiful," Tommy murmured. His eyes were soft and slightly pleading as he gazed down into the visor of the Pink Dino Thunder Ranger.

Trakeena's next roar of laughter brought the others out of their stupor. "You're wasting your breath, Dr. Oliver!" she laughed. "She is under my control. Nothing you say or do will break that. Once she and my men have taken care of allof you, she will take her rightful place at my side, as my princess, when I begin my domination of this world."

Tommy blocked everything but the steady rhythm of Kim's heartbeat and breathing out of his mind. Slowly, so as not to scare her, Tommy took baby steps toward her. "Beautiful," he spoke her nickname again, hoping beyond hope to jar her from Trakeena's control. "It's me, Beautiful, it's me Tommy, your White Knight," he whispered as he finally stopped just inches in front of her.

Kimberly's gaze shifted upward, so she could still look into his face. Her hands were at her sides, clenching and unclenching, the only sign that she was even listening to what Tommy was saying. Jericho laughed. "Face it, White Ranger," the white clad man laughed. "Not even your tender words and familiar voice can break Mesogog's hold on her."

The team watched on as Tommy continued to ignore everything and everyone but Kim. "Come on Beautiful," Tommy murmured to her. "It's time to go home. Come with me, Kim, come home with me."

It was a Mexican standoff as far as Zack could tell. No matter how much Tommy spoke to her, Kim just wasn't budging from her spot. However, Zack did notice something. Kim's stance in front of Tommy was not like the White Ranger or Trakeena's, it was almost as if the Pink Ranger was trying to hide something from them all, something only Tommy seemed to understand. "I don't get it," Jen muttered. Zack did though. He saw the way Kim slowly nodded her head, the movement so minimal that not even Trakeena or the White Ranger, let alone the others on the team, would notice, but Tommy, like Zack, had noticed it. Realization caused a bright smile to spread across Zack's face.

"Look, let's just get this over with, shall we?" Zack muttered as Trakeena and the White Ranger laughed.

"Eager to die, Doctor?" Trakeena asked as the group suddenly took defensive stances.

Zack smirked at him. "Nah, Because I figured you used a clone of my best friend and you have the genuine article, and we are gonna bring her back home where she belongs." Jason, Kira, Adam, and Eric all looked to Zack like he'd lost his mind, but followed him none the less, as it was perfectly clear that Tommy was too out of it with Kim, to lead them.

The Pink Ranger hadn't anticipated the force that hit her when she'd merged the two pieces of the Pink exosuit. Nor had she thought that the full power of the Pink suit would amplify the control Trakeena had exerted over her or over the gem itself.

But that's exactly what happened.

Kimberly was waging an internal war with herself in the aftermath of making the Pink Gem whole. In her mind, there were two Kimberly's. One wore a pair of black jeans and a pink tank top while the other was decked out in white short shorts and a pink tee shirt. Each represented a side of the first generation Power Ranger.

"Give it up, Pinkie," the Kim in black sneered as the one in white looked at her. "You think you can beat Lord Angyr? Think again."

The Kim dressed in white shorts shook her head. "You don't get it do you?" the one who represented the real Kim asked. "You may be a part of her, the part that Lord Zedd, Maligore, and Mesogog saw and see, but you're not the real Kim. You aren't the reason Zordon chose her to be a Power Ranger, you aren't the reason the others are friends with her, and you aren't the reason Tommy loves her. I am."

The one who represented Kim's dark side started laughing. "That may be, but thanks to the Miller Exosuit I'm the one with the power, the one in control. Let's see how her friends do against a Kim they aren't used to." With that, the one in black disappeared, leaving the other trapped.

"The time has come," Lord Angyr hissed. "My Men, dispose of Dr. Oliver and his friends."

Old instincts kicked in, allowing the group of friends to drop into ready stances behind Zack and Tommy, who was still oblivious to the rest of the world. "You will not be able to stop me," the White Ranger laughed at the group.

"We're going to try anyway," Eric muttered as he settled into the familiar stance. Reaching deep down, each member of the group grasped onto the power that was inside them, the power that had been there even before Zordon had made them Rangers, the power that being Rangers had helped them recognize.

"ATTACK!" Trakeena yelled as the White Ranger lunged forward, his first target Tommy.

"NO!" The word ripped from the Pink Ranger's throat just as she struck a hand out, stopping the White Ranger in mid movement. "He's mine." Nodding, the White Ranger moved to face the other five while the Pink Ranger stood in front of Tommy.

The nine Rangers looked at each other in worry. Even with the power of the Ninjetti backing them, the five knew they stood a pretty good chance of losing this fight. "Keep him busy until Tommy and Zack gets Kim freed, then we attack with everything we've got," Wes commanded, taking up his duties as a Commander of the Silver Guardians. Everyone's heads nodded in agreement as the others readied themselves.

"Let's do it!" Adam cried, as the Rangers pulled out their respective weapons.

Meanwhile, Trakeena stood on the other side of the room, taking in both battles. The White Ranger faced the Cena and 'Taker and the rest of the Rangers while his Pink Ranger stood before Zack and Tommy, seemingly ignoring her former lover. "She's mine, Dr. Oliver, and there's nothing you can do to help her."

Tommy heard Trakeena, heard the commotion going on with his friends behind him, but he knew that for them to overcome this challenge, they were going to need Kim's help. "Beautiful," Tommy whispered, hoping the familiar nickname would jar her memory.

"Tommy." His name was whispered so softly, so tenderly, it brought tears to Tommy's eyes. He watched her eyes through the visor, watched as she struggled for control.

"Kim."

"NO!" Trakeena roared, throwing his hand up as if to hurtle a force blast in Kim and Tommy's direction.

At the sound of Trakeena's voice, something inside the White Ranger snapped. Forgetting about his opponents, the White Ranger turned just in time to see Mesogog release a burst of energy at the unsuspecting Tommy and Kim.

His body moved of it's own accord, confusing him even as he felt the searing heat of the power. Tommy stood in stunned shock as the White Ranger collapsed to his knees, his visor turned to look up at him and Kim.

"Kim will make it," Zack said. now let's knock out Trakeena."

"You sound like me when I lead the Rangers, Zack," Tommy said. "Nonetheless, let's do it."

"YOU!" the black clad woman hissed as she stood before her white dressed counterpart.

The woman in white smirked. "Yes me, and in case you didn't notice, she also managed to get through to Trent."

"You piece of trash!" the woman in clack hissed as she flew forward, only to be thrown back as the woman in white threw a hand up, let it glow pink, and forced the other back.

"You underestimated her, which is exactly what everyone who doesn't know her has a tendency to do. She's not weak, she's not feeble, and she's not incapable of defending herself. Which means I'm not weak, not unable to defend myself," the woman in the white smiled. "Love and Friendship are the two most powerful feelings in the entire universe, something that those of evil never understand. Now that you've had your fun, it's my turn, and this time, you aren't ever going to be able to come out again. THE CRANE!"

As the two Kim's warred against one another, the other rangers joined Zack and Tommy, who'd called upon his powers, in front of Trakeena.

"This ends now," Tommy growled.

Trakeena sneered. "Right you are, Dr. Oliver, right you are."

"Let's do it guys!" Zack called as the group and Trakeena started to glow.

"It's Morphin' Time!"

"Mastodon!"

"Tigerzord!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

"Zeo Ranger IV, Green!"

"Time For, TIME FORCE!"

"Quantum Power!"

"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!"

"Dino Thunder Power Up! Hah!"

"Exosuit, online!"

Trakeena's own voice was drowned out by the different calls, by the roar of power that announced the arrival of the Ranger Spirits.

The Rangers battled as hard as they could, and they defeated not only Jericho and his four lackeys, they all went off screaming.

"And where do you think you're going" John said.

"You'll probably hear from Vince after this," Taker said.

They all met with collective groans.

As the rangers battle Lord Angyr and Trakeena, they battled them back

"Here's an old saying we used way back when we were Rangers," Zack said.

"And what is that?" Lord Angyr said.

"SEE YOU IN HELL!" Tommy and Zack said in unison as they blasted their enemies with their blasters, Tommy with Saba and Zack with his Power Axe.

**Reefside Hospital, a few hours later...**

"All right, Beautiful," Tommy whispered. "I'm gonna catch a nap. The others went back to my house and Zack's for the night. We're all still here when you're ready to wake up." That said, Tommy drifted off to sleep.

Hours later, just as the sun was rising, bathing the room in bright light, Tommy felt a gentle caress on his cheek. Pulling himself from dreams of Kimberly, chocolate brown opened and met chocolate brown. "Kim?" Tommy croaked.

Kim stood awkwardly in her hospital gown, with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and a very confused look on her face. "Tommy, where am I?"

Kim blinked in surprise as Tommy jumped up, wrapping his arms around her. "Kim?" he whimpered as he crushed her to him, heedless of her injuries.

"Tommy, what happened? Where am I?" Kim frantically asked while he nestled her head under his chin.

"You don't remember what happened?"

Kim sighed. "The last thing I remember is the fight with that walking tin can at the High School."

Tommy winced. Kim had lost nearly a week's worth of memories, and to make matters worse, she's been in a coma for nearly a week and a half. "Kim, do you remember becoming the Pink Exo Ranger? Don't you remember Undertaker and John Cena trying to save you?" Tommy carefully asked, pulling back to look at her face as she thought about what he was saying.

Kim looked up at him, her eyes welling. "Oh GOD!" she cried softly, watching Tommy's eyes mist over in tears. Silently, Tommy pulled her close and held her while the floodgates opened. Suddenly, everything that had happened to her while she was under Trakeena's control came rushing back in a torrent that had her reeling as she attempted to sort out the memories.

An indefinite time later, Tommy sat back down in his chair, with Kim sitting on his lap, tucked safely in his arms. Her body wracking sobs had quieted down to sniffles. "Everyone's okay, aren't they?" she asked when Tommy pecked a kiss to her temple.

"Yeah. Everyone survived with a few scrapes and bruises."

Kim nodded and snuggled back under his chin. "Tommy, I'm so sorry. I always seem to put you through so much!" she cried softly.

Tommy rocked her back and forth, attempting to calm her down. "I'm only so thankful you're ok."

The tremor in his voice made Kim's heart throb in anguish. "God, Kim, I was so scared I was gonna loose you!"

"Tommy, I'm sorry."

"DON'T APOLOGIZE!" Tommy commanded, then toned down his voice when he saw her wincing from the harsh sound. "It's not like you did it on purpose. Besides, you tried saving all of us, just like you always do," Tommy reminded her.

Kim's mind still felt the sting from the injury. It had been that last minute addition that had helped the others turn Lord Angyr back into Leonard Miller.

The knock on the door startled the pair out of their world for two. "Come in!" Tommy called.

Jason's head poked in. "Hey Tommy...KIM!"

Kim's face broke out into a huge grin when Jason shot into the room, followed by Kira, Jen, Zack and Wes.

"Hey guys!" Kim laughed when the three boys wrapped her in happy hugs.

Kira finally pushed them all aside before she proceeded to smother her best friend in a bone-crushing hug. "When did you wake up?"

Kim smiled again. "About an hour ago. Tommy still hasn't called to tell the doctors I'm up."

Zack laughed. "Golly gee wow Kim!" When Kim's attention was on her black and white dressed friend, he continued. "You sure know how to get into all sorts of trouble, with or without a power coin, huh?"

The group collectively rolled their eyes at him. "How do you feel?" Wes asked softly, receiving a brilliant smile from his pink friend.

"Other than feeling extremely guilty about putting you all through hell yet again, I'm just peachy."

"No problem. After all, it's not your fault," Zack said. "Miller's in the Pysch ward and the rest of the guys told me that the renegade wrestlers will be suspended pending an investigation."

"Funny, Zack, but how did you get the info?" Tommy asked.

"Cena and 'Taker told me. They also said that we might team up in the future in case things like this happens."

"No kidding. Tell them thank you."

**The Taylor household, Weeks later...**

"We better get back to Silver Hills you guys, it's been a pleasure teaming up with you guys," Jen said.

"Same here. We might team up in the near future or sooner than you think," Tommy said.

"Not a problem, Tommy. Always glad to help," Wes said as he and his two friend hopped in the Jeep Wrangler to take them back home.

"What a rough couple of weeks," Adam muttered as he, Kira, Tori and Jason collapsed onto Zack's couch, propping their feet up on the coffee table despite the looks Zack was giving them.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" Trent queried. He hadn't heard about their adventure much more than when he was a bit involved.

"Trent," Kira started. She was sitting between Adam and Tori, hoping to avoid the bickering she was sure would ensue at any moment. Kim had been kind enough to explain a few things to her over the last couple of days regarding Adam and Trent, and their feelings toward Kira.

"Sorry."

Zack shook his head. "So, Kim, what are you gonna be doing now that you're out of the hospital?"

All eyes turned toward the Pink Ranger.

Kim shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Tommy and I both agreed that I should hang around a while longer until I'm almost a hindered percent better, but I need to get back to Florida, and my training eventually," Kim started, watching four faces fall. She didn't even dare look over at Tommy, who was standing in the archway leading to the kitchen. "Without the threat of Trakeena breathing down your necks, you really don't need me hanging around."

"Don't need but want," Kira informed her, causing Kim to smile. It was nice to feel wanted.

"Besides," Jason started. "If you leave, Dr. O's gonna go all grumpy teacher on us again."

"HEY!" Tommy protested.

Kim and the others laughed. "We'll see," Kim smiled at the younger Ranger. "It's up to Tommy on how long he wants me to stay."

"How does forever sound to you?" Tommy asked. Kim turned to face him, to see if he was just joking or if he was as serious as his voice sounded.

"Are you serious?"

Tommy looked at her, his expression pure steel. "Dead serious."

The rest watched the exchange between their friend and his girlfriend in silent awe.

"Now that's a storybook ending," Jason said.

"In your dreams, Jase," Zack said.

END...For now


End file.
